tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19589499444322256592024-03-22T12:02:06.867+11:00"...what you'd call a controllist."The sporadic public ramblings of <a href="http://www.twitter.com/nataliefisher">@nataliefisher</a>. <br><br>
"Rachel's what you'd call a controllist." "I'm <i>controlling.</i> 'Controllist' isn't a word."Nataliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04859638225493801704noreply@blogger.comBlogger30125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1958949944432225659.post-28365872255866873942015-11-12T21:03:00.000+11:002015-11-12T21:03:20.289+11:00Pizza of the Week: Domino's, MarrickvilleMy fast-food pizza of choice used to be Pizza Hut - from birth to age 20 it was the only pizza I'd ever eaten, thanks SED - but in the past year they've dramatically changed in quality, using different cheese, sauce and dough, and what was once a beloved and reliable friend is now an inedible mess. It's the biggest betrayal of my life. I've given them SO much loyalty, not to mention money. Long before Pizza Hut stabbed me in the back, I'd widened my pizza palate to include Domino's, and do I quite like it as well, though its spicier sauce does mess with my tummy a bit, thanks ulcerative colitis. Now, it's all I've got, when it comes to easy, fast, oily, tasty, chain store pizza. And that's what I wanted tonight. Sometimes, it's needed.<br />
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I had an online coupon: $33.95 for three pizzas, garlic bread and a Coke, which is a great deal, especially considering that I freeze leftover Domino's and eat it later. I can get four or five meals out of three large pizzas, if I ration out the slices into freezer bags. Leo gets the garlic bread. I don't like it.<br />
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I find the quality of Domino's very inconsistent, and so I had my fingers crossed for a good and satisfying order. They delivered. PUN INTENDED. Good effort, Domino's Marrickville. You nailed it tonight.<br />
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Look at these crunchy-crusted, comforting delicacies.<br />
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I forgot to take a pic of the cheese one before stuffing it into my face. The all-mushroom one was particularly delightful, because mushrooms, in layers, create a sort of savory juice of their own when cooked. A heavily mushroomed pizza is one of the juiciest things a non-meat-eater can eat.<br />
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They did bring a Coke instead of a Coke Zero, which is slightly annoying as I'm trying not to drink full-fat soft drink. The best sugar-free drink by FAR is Pepsi Max, another Pizza Hut casualty - in this country, Domino's has a deal with Coke and Pizza Hut has Pepsi products. And I am a lifelong Pepsi girl. Fight me.<br />
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So far I've eaten 6 out of a potential 24 slices - I shall stop now and bag the rest up for freezing. The trick to freezing pizza is doing it while the cheese is still warm - before the whole thing dries out. If you let it defrost properly (NOT in the microwave, they change the molecular structure of food and therefore affect the taste, and it makes Domino's pretty tasteless) and then gently re-heat in the oven, it's almost as good as new.Nataliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04859638225493801704noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1958949944432225659.post-5181195171938737142015-11-02T00:39:00.000+11:002015-11-02T11:27:56.310+11:00Pizza of the Week: Rosso Antico, EnmoreI'm the polar opposite of a foodie, but is it okay if I use this blog to talk about really important pizza experiences that I've had?<br />
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So last night, Leo had to drop off a key for a workmate in Newtown (Leo, for anyone not immersed in my personal life, is my primary-companion-to-the-exclusion-of-all-others) and I decided to go with her because a) it was Halloween night and I wanted to see how that was going down on King St, and b) I was hungrier for more food than we currently had in the house. After meeting the esteemed colleague outside of The Hub - what's going on with that place, by the way? - we went up Enmore Road, expecting get pizza at serviceable staple like Azzuri, San Remo or Manoosh. But before we hit the Enmore Theatre stretch, we discovered Rosso Antico, a pizza bar which opened only recently on the street level of what used to be the empty and neglected Newtown RSL building.<br />
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The food looked decent from afar, so we decided to risk trying this new place rather than seeking out the familiar. It had a good atmosphere, very open. It was full of people enjoying themselves, but not full enough to be oppressive or to have a wait for a table, and it was very, like, on trend, with mismatched low-watt bulbs, unfinished brick walls, and that tried-and-tested hipster stable of cream subway tiling with black grout, which does it for me every single time. Also, their front wall is completely glass, and because it was Halloween, we ended up being passed by a disco Thor, the Phantom of the Opera, a dude Leia and lady Stormtrooper, a gorilla on a bicycle, a ton of wounded civilians and I'm-a-mouse-duhs, and a white guy in a P. K. Subban jersey as we ate.<br />
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I like many of your traditional pizza tropes: Italian, New York, Chicago, Lebanese, Domino's... I love them all for different reasons, but I like them to be the best possible versions of themselves, and this was by far the best Italian pizza I've had in Sydney. Gigi's was okay, but they were snooty pricks who have recently launched a vegan-only menu, possibly just to fuck with people. Nom Pizza in Marrickville does a very good take-away Italian-style, and Lucio in Darlinghurst, which is often in top ten lists for Sydney, is pretty much worth the hype. Rosso Antico was better than all of those. It's going to get a rep so fast, because it was fucking <i>unbelievable.</i><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ohhhh myyyy godddd.</td></tr>
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I had what I always have when it comes to Italian pizza - a margarita with mushrooms and black olives added. (If it's a fast-food place, or a crunchier base, I also get pineapple.) They did NOT skimp on the toppings. Thick chunks of mushroom - a lot of it, rather than one single mushroom sliced and artfully arranged across six slices, which is what you get sometimes when you add a vegetable request to a margarita - and handfuls of whole black olives, very high quality ones, I'm discerning about olives. The crust was that very chewy, puffed up type that thins out in the middle to disintegrating levels of floppy, a bit salty in a good way. The sauce was a light san marzano puree, not really strongly flavored with other herbs, but a very perfect blend.<br />
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Even the cheese was flavorful, which was a huge added bonus, because often with Italian pizza (at least in this country) the mozzarella isn't very strong - you get the texture and the oil and the basil and everything coming together to make a good package in your mouth, but if you isolate a chunk of cheese it's almost tasteless, especially if it's fior di latte as opposed to bufala. This was the best, yummiest, most stands-on-its-own-two-feet fior di latte I have ever experienced. Thank you, cows.<br />
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It was one of those pizzas where you pick up a slice and everything slides off unless you fold it properly, which I am bad at. I made a mess. I do not care. I picked up all the bits with my fingers. Huge puddles of tomato liquid/oil residue soaked through the middle of the pizza onto the plate and that stuff tasted so good on its own that I actually mopped my plate with spare crust, and I am not a mopper. There were too many olives to stay on the pizza, they literally rolled off, and I squeezed the sauce residue out of them into my mouth. And I couldn't finish it, which goes to show how weighty the toppings and cheese were, because usually Italian pizza is pretty light and I can eat a full one.<br />
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Leo had potato croquettes, which are the closest thing you'll find to mozzarella sticks in this country, and a pear/walnut/rocket/parmesan salad. She also had my last slice of pizza, though I ate the saucy, saucy mushrooms and olives. The croquettes were so big that she had to cut them up with a knife and fork, and she kept waving bits of pear in my face, so I guess she approved.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">~aesthetic. From the <a href="https://instagram.com/rossoanticopizzabar/" target="_blank">Rosso Antico instagram</a>.</td></tr>
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Ohhhh my god, it was so very good and so very unexpected. A Halloween miracle. I am ranking it 9 out of 10 slices, purely because I didn't get to eat the last one.<br />
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<br />Nataliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04859638225493801704noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1958949944432225659.post-50904805698725375692015-11-01T00:05:00.002+11:002015-11-02T00:40:24.353+11:00*taps mic* is this thing on?<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The past twelve months have been the worst, for me, in at least ten years. In December I lost a job that I thought I was doing well at, where I felt creative and productive. In July, my dog died and my aunt died, within a week of each other, while I wasn't in the country. My mother's will finally came to term this year, so I've spent several months both mentally and physically preparing for the sale of my childhood home, which I own, and going through all the stuff of hers that was put into storage in a hurry. The house I rent - and I adore it - was also sold, and I had to deal first of all with financial advice and banks and bridging loans and begging in an attempt to buy it myself, which did not work out timing-wise, so then there were photographers and viewings and pushy agents and house-hunting. That situation didn't end up as bad as it could have - the new owners settled before an auction took place and we get to stay here as tenants (though there's a 40% rent increase) but it was a really bad time, especially as it was happening concurrently with all the death stuff. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">These circumstances caused long stretches of won't-get-out-of-bed, lose-track-of-time, can't-reply-to-emails-until-six-months-later depression, and a full-on shaking-on-the-floor panic attack in the airport when I was trying to fly out of San Diego to get back to Australia for a funeral and the local connecting airline accidentally locked my ticket so that the main airline wasn't able to access it.</span><br />
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Don't get me wrong, a lot of really awesome things happened too (amazing UK trip last October for The Libertines and everything that's happened with them since then, Megan visiting Australia for the first time, doing SDCC with Hypable, getting my learners permit, discovering The Raven Cycle and Hannibal and Hamilton and Kingsman and Deadpool and cronuts) and even the bad stuff served to strengthen a lot of personal bonds that I have with people - I've had important one-on-one conversations with a lot of friends this year and received immense amounts of support from places I never expected. But it's been a time, guys. This was The Year The Bad Things Happened.</span><br />
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During this time, writing was not something that helped me. I've never labeled myself a writer, but I was always a blogger - not, like, a "blogger," just a weblog diarist - from the moment I really got involved with online communities. I got a lot out of it, particularly in the days of LiveJournal. The instant gratification of Twitter did wean me off long-form blogging a bit, and I love my Twitter more than anything in this life, but I always returned to my blog when I really had something that I wanted to tell people about, or to explain the details of a situation and let my friends know what was going on.</span><br />
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That stopped working for me. In the past year, that prospect has seemed daunting. Attempting to explain myself or how I feel has been draining, not cathartic. Opening up a blank entry page was just like a stressful horror story, and I did it as little as possible, including, as I mentioned, replying to emails. This goes for my work as a features writer at Hypable too. I had no ideas or opinions that I could be bothered expressing. I've always toed deadlines because I find that I work best then, but this was more than that, it was active procrastination because I did not want to do it. Producing content each week became an anxiety-ridden obligation, to the point where I had to take an official break from my duties for the first time since I joined the site in 2011.</span><br />
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However, I'm finding in recent weeks that the worst is over. I took a really indulgent holiday by myself in September, after all of the housing/death mess was over. I saw a favorite band's reunion concert, a ton of friends, and five musicals in five days. It was intended to heal and recharge, and it kind of worked... or maybe it was just a matter of time. I'm writing for the site again and as I go, I'm actually getting excited about the prospect of composing my articles, jumping out of the shower to make notes... The thing is, I knew that I <i>wanted</i> to want to write. I just literally couldn't. But for now, I can. And for the first time in a long time, I also feel like writing for myself, in a more personal manner. I came across an old post on here today and thought that I'd dust this account off and have another go. I thought about starting a new blog, but that seems unnecessarily dramatic.</span><br />
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So this is ultimately going to be a personal, but public, blog. I've never actually had one of those before - my writing was always very divided between locked personal accounts, and public pop culture accounts, like this one used to be for a hot second. I hope to post medium sized-entries about anything that occurs to me, from my current mental state to reviews of the pizzas that I eat.</span><br />
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To any newbies who happen to end up here: no, I'm not trying to be, like, a thing. I come from the LiveJournal generation. We all used to do this. LiveJournal was like Twitter, but longer.</span><br />
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To any oldbies: hey.</span><br />
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<br />Nataliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04859638225493801704noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1958949944432225659.post-10284403014651879202014-03-05T00:46:00.000+11:002014-03-05T00:46:22.903+11:00Can You Analyse A Spell? - My London; part two<b style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">"...and to go away from you, London, is often to come nearer to you in loneliness, in strange places, when a memory of how it feels to ride down the Strand in rain on top of a 'bus is like remembering something lovely about your mother..."<br />- The Spell of London - H.V. Morton</b><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;" /><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;" /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">In </span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;"><a href="http://controllist.blogspot.com.au/2014/03/can-you-analyse-spell-my-london-part-one.html" target="_blank">part one of this possibly unnecessary epic</a>, we left off in Notting Hill. Let's pick back up there and have a wander through west and central London.</span><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;" /><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;" /><iframe allowtransparency="true" class="lj-cut-wrap" frameborder="0" lj-class="lj-cut lj-cut-open" lj-cmd="LJCut" style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; height: 9px !important; line-height: 19.600000381469727px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: 861px;"></iframe><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">In </span><a data-cke-saved-href="http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/Threepenny-Memoir-Carl-Barat/9780007393763" href="http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/Threepenny-Memoir-Carl-Barat/9780007393763" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">Threepenny Memoir</a><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;"> - Carl Barat's autobiography, which is one of the most beautiful books I have ever read, and one in which the city is a central character, he states, at one point, </span><b style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">“London really began for me, though, in Camden and Soho.”</b><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;"> I adore those places, and we'll get to them in time, but it's the sentiment of that statement that I'm focusing on, because London really began for me in Notting Hill. The area is obviously familiar to many because of the aforementioned Hugh Grant film, but even before that, it was the first part of London that I really knew. The first time I went to London, I stayed in a flat there belonging to a close friend of my family. Over ten years later, I ended up living in the same flat, in a room with huge sash windows overlooking Westbourne Park Road. I remember, from childhood, Notting Hill in bright flashes, I remember pubs covered with flowers in hanging baskets, and the feeling and strange, gassy smell of an old-fashioned pocket-warmer, and I remember a certain falafel shop under the Westway, and buying fruit from a street stall, and catching a bus down Kensington Church St and seeing the most overgrown pub in the world, literally all greenery, and thinking it was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen.</span><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;" /><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;" /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">Notting Hill, to me, is still always so beautiful – it still overwhelms me to walk around the streets, looking at the houses and the Colerigean “sunny spots of greenery.” It isn't the grandness – though some of the area is, admittedly somewhat fancy – it just gets to me. It's just perfect, in my mind, it's what London is. It feels perfect and timeless and real.</span><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;" /><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;" /><a data-cke-saved-href="http://shopportobello.co.uk/" href="http://shopportobello.co.uk/" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">Portobello Markets</a><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;"> are a major tourist attraction – on Saturdays, to quote The Movie, </span><b style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">“hundreds of stalls appears out of nowhere, filling Portobello Road right up to Notting Hill Gate... and thousands of people buy millions of antiques, some genuine... and some not so genuine.”</b><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;"> As much as I like the idea of collecting old brass binoculars and vintage footballs and leather trunks, that part of the market gets a little same-ish as time goes by, and my favourite part of the entire thing is going out of my street, Westbourne Park Road, and turning right, towards the Westway. On weekdays, this stretch is filled with fruit and veg stalls – fruitselling in London still kind of delights me, as well as being, you know, quite handy – and then on the weekend, when the main market takes place up towards Notting Hill Gate, this area plays host to a second-hand and hand-made clothes market, some garage sale type stuff, and some proper vintage collectors. I have bought a fair amount of clothes from here, including some great vintage dresses and coats for £5 each. If you walk under the Westway on the pedestrian path from Portobello to Ladbroke Grove, there's more stalls of new crafts, including unique jewelry and hat designers. You can also walk through the </span><a data-cke-saved-href="http://www.portobellodesigners.com/" href="http://www.portobellodesigners.com/" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">Portobello Green Arcade</a><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">, which is a tiny shopping complex of specialty designers, from artisan soaps to restorers of vintage eyewear to suppliers of 50s-pinup style lingerie and stockings.</span><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;" /><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;" /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">Many of the streets that run between Portobello and Ladbroke Grove have interesting permanent shops – my favourite is probably Elgin Cresent, mainly because I am a fan of </span><a data-cke-saved-href="http://www.thegroceron.com/" href="http://www.thegroceron.com/" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">The Grocer on Elgin</a><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">, which supplied me with perfect lamingtons on the days that I missed Australia. Once you enter the area behind Portobello, you're in the strange concentric horseshoes that make up the posher side of Notting Hill – grand houses, most converted into flats, which surround private gardens – beautiful places with large iron fences, only accessible to the residents whose houses are attached. It's nice, and a bit pathetic, to walk around these streets, trying to peer in where you can.</span><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;" /><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;" /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">Towards the Notting Hill Gate end of Portobello, there's one of my favourite shops in the world – </span><a data-cke-saved-href="https://hummingbirdbakery.com" href="https://hummingbirdbakery.com/" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">Hummingbird Bakery</a><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">. Their cupcakes are a bloody joke, like, they're so freaking good – better, actually, than any of the specialty cupcake places I've tried in America. Hummingbird has several branches in London now, but I believe Portobello was the first. I have a t-shirt from there (which, lol, I'm actually wearing while editing this update,) and a postcard of the shopfront on my pinboard at home. Even further up, the little quiet top of Portobello that isn't a retail thoroughfare, there's a row of smaller houses, more like working-class terraces which are now individual homes, rather than Victorian mansions which are now flats, and they are painted insanely bright colours. A lot of houses in the area are colourful, in pastel tones at least, it's not uncommon to see a strip of Victorian terraces with one white, one pale pink, one blue, one yellow, but these are small, cute, and richly coloured and I want to live in one of them so badly that it hurts. Yes, I have a specific favourite, number 58.</span><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;" /><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;" /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">These houses are actually more the style you'd expect to find in a mews, not on a main street. Pro tip – if you ever see a street labelled Something Mews, especially in West London, take a detour down it, because mews houses are the cutest things in the world. A mews was, back in the day, a row of stables, carriage houses and living quarters for staff, separated from the main house by the garden. So for an upper class city house, in one of those big five story Victorian mansions, the main house would face the street, it would have a garden behind, and then at the back, the carriage house, which exited onto the back lane way or mews. And you'd have the carriage houses of the next street facing yours, sharing the lane, in a sort of back-to-back fashion. Nowadays, the mansions are flats, and the mews houses are individual homes. Usually the mews streets aren't driven down, and they're often entered through little archways, and they're just so fucking charming. St Luke's Mews, just behind Westbourne Park Road, and literally 30 seconds from my old front door, is a good example of a lovely mews street, and – this will definitely sell it to you if you have a heart – number 27 in St Luke's Mews was the home of Keira Knightly in Love, Actually – this is where the "to me you are perfect" cue cards scene was filmed.</span><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;" /><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;" /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">Heading up Westbourne Park Road, you can walk in the direction of Bayswater and Paddington along Westbourne Grove. Westbourne Grove is posher than Notting Hill proper, it's a fairly expensive but enjoyable high street which has both chain and independent shops, a variety of restaurants that I'm told have good reputations, and a few art galleries. I've seen small exhibitions here of some of the loveliest paintings, one random artist in particular I've never got the image out of my head, so it's worth just walking by. It's a quiet and tasteful area, until you hit Queensway, which is busy and noisy and tacky in a way that I weirdly love. It has a shopping centre – which is pretty uncommon for London, they're all about high streets and department stores, not malls – at one end, a place called </span><a data-cke-saved-href="http://www.whiteleys.com/" href="http://www.whiteleys.com/" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">Whiteleys</a><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;"> which is pretty famous, and then it just heads all the way up to Bayswater Rd, getting louder and cheaper as it goes. I used to work in a hair salon on Queensway. I bought a lot of discount £5 shoes from crappy shops on Queensway. I got hit by a car on Queensway. It has shitty tattoo shops and Asian food and </span><a data-cke-saved-href="http://www.queensiceandbowl.co.uk/" href="http://www.queensiceandbowl.co.uk/" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">an ice skating rink</a><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;"> and it is the very definition of the word “bustling.” I love it, and I have absolutely no idea why, because it's awful. But still I love it.</span><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;" /><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;" /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">At the top of Queensway, on Bayswater Road, you can either go left, towards Lancaster Gate, and enter Kensington Gardens, which I love dearly – it's a dreamy place to me, Kensington Palace and its surrounds are a sad fairy tale, and when the light hits the water on the Italian Fountains it pretty much make me weep . Or you can go right, back towards Notting Hill Gate, and then go down Kensington Church Street. This is an extremely pleasant road, featuring patisseries, many antique shops with museum-style window displays, little streets shooting off with perfect parallel white houses and blossom trees, and pubs – including the </span><a data-cke-saved-href="http://churchillarmskensington.co.uk/" href="http://churchillarmskensington.co.uk/" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">Churchill Arms</a><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">, the aforementioned floweriest, vine-iest pub in the world that entranced me when I was a child. That pub has a great, proper smell of old beer soaked into the carpets, and, unusually, serves a menu of Thai food, which I'm told is nice. If you allow yourself to wander, there are a lot of tiny streets and narrow passages and thoroughfares to its west, some of which have bizarre little shops, like a dandyish vintage menswear place run by a man who is approximately three thousand years old.</span><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;" /><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;" /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">Kensington Church Street is also – for me most importantly – the location of</span><a data-cke-saved-href="http://www.harringtonbooks.co.uk/shop/harrington/index.html" href="http://www.harringtonbooks.co.uk/shop/harrington/index.html" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;"> Adrian Harrington Rare Books</a><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">. It's quite an unusual location for an antiquarian bookstore – usually you'll find them clustered together in Charing Cross Road or in Bloomsbury – and it's the kind of place that may intimidate you if you're shy, because it looks beautiful and grand and fragile. You might be the kind of person who thinks that they will be sneered at for looking, and you can throw that misconception out of the window. There is extreme snobbery in the rare book trade, but this particular place is run by lunatics. In 2006, I walked into this place in an absolute state, the most wrecked and grief-struck and fucked-up that I've ever been, and it changed my life. I had one of the best conversations I'd ever had with the guy working there, who took two hours out of his day to just show me things – things I could never buy, like a signed copy of Oscar Wilde's Duchess of Padua, and ancient bibles. He took me upstairs off the shop floor to see more of their collection, he horrified me by hitting a £45,000 book on the table to show off its structural integroty, he talked about Harry Potter and Phillip Pullman and he treated broke, depressed 19 year old me like an intelligent equal. It was the first good thing to happen to me in the months after one of the most traumatic and scarring events of my life, and to say it helped me is the world's biggest understatement.</span><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;" /><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;" /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">For some reason – I couldn't tell you why - I never returned to that shop while I was living in the UK, and didn't go there on my first visit back to London, in 2009. In 2010, however, I had started to collect books myself (antiquarian books, that is, obviously I've been buying general books my whole life) and I was in the area and had a vague sense memory that shop being around here somewhere and I went in and the guy was still there and he remembered me pretty much on sight. This time, we kept in touch, and three years later, we are now best friends, as in we literally talk every day. I have spent hours sitting at his basement desk in that shop, pestering him while he pretends to work, If you go there and look for him (he's the redhead named Jonathan) and say you know me, he will show you the treasures of the universe. These guys just really love their books and love sharing them with people who may be interested, even if you can't take one home – though there are plenty of affordable volumes there as well as the super insanely rare stuff, and if one of London's book fairs is on, you can get free tickets to attend and see the collections of other booksellers from all around the world. It's like a really niche, hands-on, book museum exhibit.</span><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;" /><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;" /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">London is absolutely full of actual museums and art galleries, and unlike many other cities in the world, the majority of them are free. Pretty much any of them are worth visiting – I have good friends who are obsessed with the </span><a data-cke-saved-href="http://www.nhm.ac.uk/" href="http://www.nhm.ac.uk/" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">Natural History Museum</a><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;"> and the </span><a data-cke-saved-href="https://www.britishmuseum.org" href="https://www.britishmuseum.org/" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">British Museum</a><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;"> – but my personal favourites of the big ones are the </span><a data-cke-saved-href="http://www.npg.org.uk/" href="http://www.npg.org.uk/" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">National Portrait Gallery</a><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;"> near Leicester Square, which is small enough to do all in one go, and just fascinating from Tudor portraits of Elizabeth I as a teen down to Sam Taylor-Wood’s creepy video portrait of David Beckham sleeping; the </span><a data-cke-saved-href="http://www.tate.org.uk/visit/tate-britain" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/visit/tate-britain" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">Tate Britain</a><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;"> in Pimlico, mainly for the collection of Pre-Raphaelites, whom I am very attached to, and the</span><a data-cke-saved-href="http://www.vam.ac.uk/" href="http://www.vam.ac.uk/" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;"> V and A</a><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">, which is just the most overwhelming and gorgeous collection of STUFF that exists in the world. It's billed as the world's largest collection of decorative arts, and basically anything that anyone has ever made pretty, they have a room for it there, from fashion to drawing to furniture to weapons. Books, photography, jewellery, glass... it's definitely worth looking just at the costume collection, and they often run amazing pop-culture based exhibits – the recent David Bowie show they had was hands-down the best, most immersive exhibition I have ever been to in my life. It's a great building, I've gone there just to eat in the cafe a few times, and the shopping in their stores features some of the coolest stuff you'll find in London.</span><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;" /><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;" /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">The massive </span><a data-cke-saved-href="http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/" href="http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">National Gallery</a><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;"> in Trafalgar Square is great for people who like to see classic, famous pieces – it features old masters like Da Vinci, Michelangelo, Botticelli, and impressionists like Van Gogh, Monet, and Cezanne. Many people may also enjoy the </span><a data-cke-saved-href="http://www.tate.org.uk/visit/tate-modern" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/visit/tate-modern" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">Tate Modern</a><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">, built into an old power station on South Bank. It's a great building designed by the same designer as my favourite building in London (the Battersea Power Station, as I mentioned in my last post) and the vista from the top-floor cafe is one of the best free views you'll find in London. I'm not a huge fan of the collection there, or modern art in general, aside from a few pop art pieces, but it has a lot, from Dali to Damien Hirst, and is generally popular with a lot of people. It depends on what you like! These are just some of the really big National Trust-style places. Most neighbourhoods of London have small private museums and galleries tucked away everywhere and if you pass one by you should probably go in. Try the </span><a data-cke-saved-href="http://www.soane.org/collections" href="http://www.soane.org/collections" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">John Soane Collection</a><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">, the </span><a data-cke-saved-href="http://www.bl.uk/" href="http://www.bl.uk/" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">British Library</a><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">, </span><a data-cke-saved-href="http://www.rbkc.gov.uk/subsites/museums/leightonhousemuseum1.aspx" href="http://www.rbkc.gov.uk/subsites/museums/leightonhousemuseum1.aspx" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">Leighton House</a><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;"> in Holland Park, the </span><a data-cke-saved-href="http://www.ltmuseum.co.uk/" href="http://www.ltmuseum.co.uk/" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">Transport for London Museum</a><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;"> (and buy me ALL the Underground merch) and, if you like weird/creepy shit, the </span><a data-cke-saved-href="http://www.wellcomecollection.org/" href="http://www.wellcomecollection.org/" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">Wellcome Collection</a><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;"> or the </span><a data-cke-saved-href="http://www.thegarret.org.uk/" href="http://www.thegarret.org.uk/" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">Old Operating Theatre</a><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;"> but AVOID the </span><a data-cke-saved-href="http://www.museumofchildhood.org.uk/" href="http://www.museumofchildhood.org.uk/" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">Bethnal Green Museum of Childhood</a><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">, the worst place in London and basically the creepiest and saddest and most sinister place ever.</span><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;" /><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;" /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">One of my very favourite things about London is the green spaces, the big parks, the churchyards, lawns with blossom trees in front of housing complexes, the unexpected little squares, the way they look in the summer all full of annual flowers and bright and clean, in early spring daffodils coming haphazardly out of the lawn, in the winter with bare black trees, green green grass and white skies. I love that you can cross nearly the entirety of central London just by using the big four. London parks are better than any other parks ever, and the best are the ones you discover yourself, by accident. I've mentioned a few parks in specific neighbourhoods elsewhere in this guide, but here are some of my top ones in general:</span><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;" /><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;" /><a data-cke-saved-href="http://www.royalparks.org.uk/parks/st-jamess-park" href="http://www.royalparks.org.uk/parks/st-jamess-park" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">St James's Park</a><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;"> - this is my favourite of the “big four” parks in Central London (Hyde, Green and Regent's being the others) – it's between Whitehall and Buckingham Palace. I really love the lake, which is some sort of bird sanctuary – it has dozens of weird and rare duck breeds and I LOVE LOVE LOVE ducks. Feeding the ducks at St James's is also an ongoing activity for the two lead characters in my long-time favourite book, Good Omens.</span><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;" /><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;" /><a data-cke-saved-href="http://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/things-to-do/green-spaces/city-gardens/visitor-information/Pages/Postman's-Park.aspx" href="http://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/things-to-do/green-spaces/city-gardens/visitor-information/Pages/Postman's-Park.aspx" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">Postman's Park</a><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;"> – this is a tiny pocket-sized park not far from St Paul's, a very quiet little place that's almost a thoroughfare which has quite a history as a former churchyard and is also home to the “</span><a data-cke-saved-href="http://www.nothingtoseehere.net/2008/08/postmans_park_london.html" href="http://www.nothingtoseehere.net/2008/08/postmans_park_london.html" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">Memorial to Heroic Self Sacrifice</a><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">” - a wall of tiled plaques dedicated to normal people who died saving others. They date from 1900 to today and in the film Closer, Natalie Portman's character takes her fake name from a plaque on this wall, but I pretty much want novels about all of the people – some of them really paint a vivid life story with only a few words.</span><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;" /><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;" /><a data-cke-saved-href="http://www.rbkc.gov.uk/leisureandlibraries/parksandgardens/yourlocalpark/hollandpark.aspx" href="http://www.rbkc.gov.uk/leisureandlibraries/parksandgardens/yourlocalpark/hollandpark.aspx" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">Holland Park</a><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;"> - between Notting Hill and Kensington, this park is sort of bizarre, and was the first London park I really knew, because it's my dad's favourite I first met squirrels there and remember it so clearly... it has an odd structure, from south, off Kensington High St, to north, on Holland Park Ave, which becomes Notting Hill Gate, the park goes from completely organised and maintained to completely wild. The bottom third is literally just sports fields, the middle third is the grounds of the old Holland House, which is now just a few walls and an orangery, surrounded by formal gardens, geometric paths and tidy lawns, as well as a Japanese garden, then the top third is nearly all forest that you can't enter – you can walk the trails in between the areas of arboretum, some of which contain wild pigs, and then the trails emerge at a little lawn behind an old wall at the top end of the park – this is designed as a sun trap and it was here I met the squirrels. In the middle section, there's also a </span><a data-cke-saved-href="http://www.yha.org.uk/hostel/london-holland-park" href="http://www.yha.org.uk/hostel/london-holland-park" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">YHA in a heritage building</a><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;"> within the grounds of the park, which is pretty much the coolest location for a hostel ever.</span><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;" /><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;" /><a data-cke-saved-href="http://chelseaphysicgarden.co.uk/" href="http://chelseaphysicgarden.co.uk/" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">Chelsea Physic Garden</a><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;"> – this is actually has paid entry, but it's not much - it's a historic apothecary garden down on the Chelsea Embankment. It's quite small and it's so cool and pretty, and very unique. It's considered, by some, the most secret garden in London, it's totally walled and I think it's only open to the public on Wednesdays and Sundays - it may change depending on the season. While you're in the Chelsea area, you can go two streets over from the Physic Garden and look at Oscar Wilde's home in Tite Street, or head back up to shop on King's Road, especially if you care about the history of fashion.</span><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;" /><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;" /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">My personal idea of “central London” is the vague rectangle shape bordered by the Euston Road to the north, the Strand – or the Thames – to the south, Hyde Park to the east and Covent Garden to the west. It's all flat – bless London's flatness, I walk much further there than I would anywhere else, I walk </span><i style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">everywhere</i><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;"> in London – and a few shops and landmarks I personally like in this area are as follows:</span><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;" /><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;" /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">Centre Point – this is a random skyscraper at Tottenham Court Road. London doesn't have many truly high buildings, except in the business district to the east, and Centre Point isn't massive, but it's a lot higher than all its surroundings. I've been to a party at the </span><a data-cke-saved-href="http://www.paramount.uk.net/" href="http://www.paramount.uk.net/" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">Paramount</a><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;"> bar on the top floor and it's got a pretty incredible 360</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16.1200008392334px;">°</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;"> view of the city from windows on all four sides. The entire area at Tottenham Court Road, where it meets Oxford St, has been a mess of construction for around two years – so some other parts of that area have been demolished, which is a real shame. Directly opposite Centre Point used to be the Astoria, one of London's most legendary and historic music venues, and I will never forget going to gigs there and seeing the drunkest people pour out of the venue at the night and climb into the fountains at the base of the skyscraper.</span><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;" /><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;" /><a data-cke-saved-href="http://www.foyles.co.uk/" href="http://www.foyles.co.uk/" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">Foyles</a><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;"> is one of the biggest independent new-volume bookstores in the world. It's an extremely famous shop on Charing Cross Road – the traditional home of London booksellers – and it's just amazing. They're also the mortal enemies of </span><a data-cke-saved-href="https://twitter.com/WstonesOxfordSt" href="https://twitter.com/WstonesOxfordSt" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">@WstonesOxfordSt</a><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">.</span><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;" /><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;" /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">Soho Square is a cute, medium-sized green square just behind the top of Oxford St, separating the tiny streets of Soho from the main shopping strip of central London, and the houses that surround it are the head-offices of some of the biggest media and production companies in the world. I've mentioned </span><a data-cke-saved-href="http://www.sohojoe.net/" href="http://www.sohojoe.net/" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">Soho Joe's</a><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;"> and the </span><a data-cke-saved-href="http://www.sohotheatre.com/" href="http://www.sohotheatre.com/" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">Soho Theatre</a><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">, but the entire Soho area, bordered by Oxford, Regent, Shaftsbury Ave and Charing Cross Rd is – despite being renown as somewhat debauched – to me, has always felt very charming and welcoming and full of life. At night, the streets – which are not technically pedestrian only – are full of people, every establishment is a tiny boutique or club or restaurant or sex shop, but it generally doesn't feel dingy or seedy. It's a very gay-friendly area as well, and it's one of those places that is so famous that you assume it must be over-rated, and then you go there and you realise it's not.</span><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;" /><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;" /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">Victoria Station is by no means London's prettiest or most significant train station, but I've got a lot of love for it because it's always been my connection to the city. I know it inside out, I know where every spare power point is and the quickest routes from Tube, coach station and cab... When I'm not staying in London itself, my main hub in the UK is in Kent, about one hour outside of London via train, and that service gets into Victoria. I have loved that train journey every single time I have taken it, which would number in the hundreds – seeing the British countryside, which always delights me and never gets old, then the rooftops, the London brick starting, then Brixton, spotting the Academy before reaching - through the train's right-hand windows - my favourite view of Battersea Power Station before the river. I am absolutely obsessed with that image and it does something to my chest every time I see it. If you look out the left-hand side, you can see the play yards of the famous Battersea Cats and Dogs Home, and people meeting their new pets. The train crosses the river and reaches Victoria, and the high glass roof, the shops, the ever-present chill – everything about stepping into that station hall means, to me, my world opening up.</span><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;" /><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;" /><a data-cke-saved-href="http://www.hamleys.com/" href="http://www.hamleys.com/" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">Hamleys</a><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;"> on Regent St is the world's oldest toy shop and it genuinely has to be seen to be believed. It is freaking insane and I am pretty sure all of the staff are on amphetamines. It is almost overwhelming – I do not suggest going there if you have any sort of easily triggered anxiety. It is like something out of a cartoon – about six floors of complete crack, dozens of display stations with people operating the games and toys – toys you've never seen anywhere else. If you want a good LOL go to the top floor and look at the life size Lego reconstruction of William and Kate's wedding, but seriously, this place is CRAZY. The British are not known for their enthusiasm, but I have been to FAO Schwartz in NYC – hell, I've been to Disneyland – and I've never seen staff as totally hyperactive and an atmosphere so busy and fantasy-like as Hamleys. It's not for the weak.</span><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;" /><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;" /><a data-cke-saved-href="http://www.fortnumandmason.com/" href="http://www.fortnumandmason.com/" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">Fortnum and Mason</a><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;"> on Piccadilly is basically a very classy department store/deli – like, I believe Buckingham Palace gets groceries from here. They have a tea shop and restaurants and several floors of just beautiful, beautiful goods, like the world's most expensive kitchen towels, and tins of biscuits, and signature teas, and candles, and gloves, and shaving brushes and wine glasses and cheese. It's all beautifully decorated in rich colours, it's about 300 years old, and it's just lovely if you dig that kind of snobby, classist thing – which, I somewhat shamefully admit, I do. I love chivalry and elegance and class, and anything old-world. It's a majorly famous destination, so they have tourists and all sorts of people visiting – it isn't, like, exclusive or anything – but it's certainly very posh, so if that kind of thing makes you uncomfortable, keep that in mind and dress accordingly or do what makes you feel confident, if you do want to go there.</span><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;" /><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;" /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">Right down the other end of the class scale is </span><a data-cke-saved-href="http://www.primark.com/en/whats-new" href="http://www.primark.com/en/whats-new" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">Primark</a><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">. Primark, like Pizza Express, is one of the staples of Britain that genuinely improves my quality of life. Primark is basically an extremely cheap high-street chain store that stocks men's and women's clothes (and now homewares) for ridiculously cheap prices. It's a step below the standard sort of non-designer high street stores like H&M, New Look, BHS and Marks and Spencer, and it is a godsend, because basically it makes all the current fashions and wardrobe staples for just.. ridiculously cheap prices. To compare it to Australia, I’d say it's somewhat similar to the quality at Cotton On, Target or Kmart, or Asian-import shops like SES, but Primark's clothes are MUCH nicer and MUCH cheaper than those places. Sometimes their clothes fall apart fast, sometimes they last... I would say at least 50% of my wardrobe is from Primark. Shoes and bags and accessories and underwear as well. I do not shop for new clothes in Australia, unless there's a random one-off item needed. I literally go on day-long shopping trips to Primark when I am in London, and that lasts me until the next time I am in the UK. Every British town has a Primark, but the very centre of London has two – one at either end of Oxford St (Marble Arch and Tottenham Court Road.) The Marble Arch one is bigger but can be a bit overwhelming and stressful. The TCR branch is newer and laid out in a way that isn't so intimidating, but it is still massive. I swear by Primark, I live and die by Primark, I have socks embroidered with I <3 Primark. Really.</span><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;" /><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;" /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">Covent Garden obviously has huge historical significance to a lot of people, and it really is a nice place, even if it is very done up now. It's still full of street performers, and market stalls in the covered market, and the </span><a data-cke-saved-href="http://www.actorschurch.org/" href="http://www.actorschurch.org/" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">Actor's Church</a><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;"> is still there and still worth looking at, but the whole scene is pristine and shiny, not really somewhere you'd envision covered in mud and rotting vegetables. To quote the Carl Barat book again:</span><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;" /><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;" /><b style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">“When I moved there, I'd go back to places again and again, and remember standing in the cobbled square in Covent Garden early one morning with a light mist on the streets and no one around. I fancied I heard the flower market starting up across the way, blooms brought on trestle tables. I imagined Oscar Wilde, the comings and goings of My Fair Lady, I romanticized it out of all proportion and it took me a long time to realize that it was a modern-day tourist trap. When I was working at the theatres I used to go down to the Piazza in my lunch hours and watch the performers, and I'd see people in sleeping bags waiting to perform for the tourists and people a little too drunk for lunchtime, and I realized that the only place that the romantic Covent Garden lived on in was in the hearts of people like me.”</b><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;" /><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;" /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">That's all very true, but if your heartstrings are tugged by Victorian London, it's still a place you need to see. Also, there's great shopping, both from beautiful branches of some of the best high street stores on Floral St and Long Acre, and in the rather glamorous stalls of the Apple Market off the piazza. Perhaps more interesting are the little streets that surround Covent Garden, many pedestrian-only stone passageways with antique lampposts and little weeds growing through the flagstones, where the buildings on either side lean in diagonally over your head. A lot of these places are media industry – casting agents, PR, production companies and so on, and you might see someone you rather fancy ducking into these alleys for a meeting. Also worth finding is </span><a data-cke-saved-href="http://www.sevendials.co.uk/" href="http://www.sevendials.co.uk/" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">Seven Dials</a><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">, a weird road junction sort of north of the piazza. Seven little streets converge on a central point like the spokes of a wheel, and the area used to be one of the worst slums in London. The little wheel-spoke streets are now all full of interesting little shops and bars, all a bit unusual or noteworthy. If you can find </span><a data-cke-saved-href="http://www.venere.com/blog/neals-yard-garden-london/" href="http://www.venere.com/blog/neals-yard-garden-london/" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">Neal's Yard</a><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">, a little passage there, that's a crazy little street of bright colours, new age places and health food cafes. It also, unsurprisingly, is home to the flagship store of Neal's Yard Remedies, the UK's biggest range of organic health and beauty products. It's pretty easy to get lost around here - it's pretty higgeldy piggeldy - so, remember my advice from part one and keep your A-Z handy!</span><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;" /><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;" /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">Righto. This part definitely needs pictures, which I will add out of my own personal collection once I finish this series. Next edition, we'll hit up north London - that's Camden and Primrose Hill, then the East End, as well as some of my favourite fiction-related London locations.</span><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;" /><iframe allowtransparency="true" class="lj-cut-wrap" frameborder="0" lj-class="lj-cut lj-cut-close" style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; height: 9px !important; line-height: 19.600000381469727px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: 861px;"></iframe>Nataliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04859638225493801704noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1958949944432225659.post-48401386917183822692014-03-03T00:17:00.000+11:002014-03-03T09:47:05.335+11:00Can You Analyse A Spell? - My London; part one<b style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">“...and London appears before you more than a home: a spiritual anchorage perhaps, in which you think you would stand a chance of happiness.”<br />- The Spell of London - H.V. Morton</b><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">It's known that I am an ex-resident of London, that I regularly return to the city, and that I'm passionate about being there in a way that no other mere physical location could ever touch upon, and I was asked a little while ago to offer up some advice for people visiting London – what to do for the “real” experience, not the “touristy” stuff. My London is not necessarily the same as anyone else's, and that's okay, but for those who have expressed interest in the way I see this city, I've put this together. I'm going to attempt to write about the London that I know – a bit of north, south, east and west, where I like to eat, what I like to do, the things that mean something to me, and the places I would take someone. I did consider constructing this entire post out of Doherty/Barat lyrics captioning selfies of me sobbing, but they may be a little contextless, so here we go...</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">(disclaimer - this entire piece ended up being well over 12,000 words, so I'm posting it in three or four shorter parts. This first update deals with the practicalities of visiting London, me getting emotional about Pizza Express and the Tube, a little about food, and a bit about accessing entertainment, particularly theatre, as well as exploring South Bank. The next parts will focus specifically on various areas of London, and various subjects like museums and unusual streets. So, here's part one. Stay tuned, if you can bear it!)</span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">While I can (and am about to) rattle off fifty or more things genuinely worth seeing or doing off of top of my head, the first thing that you need to understand – the most important thing, is that the London is not Ye Olde Theme Park. It is not a Land at Disney World. It is not quaint or cute or precious. It is a survivor. It is unlikely. It is authentic. It grew from the ideas and hopes and horrors and smoke and stone and mud and greenery and of the thoughts and the dreams of every man and woman who has ever come through there and made their mark, of people throughout history and all over the globe who heard the word London and it sounded like a promise. Like a spell. It draws you in, and if it chooses you, then you belong to London, and London keeps its own.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">I recently read a </span><b style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">“<a data-cke-saved-href="http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/Imagined-London-Anna-Quindlen/9780792242079" href="http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/Imagined-London-Anna-Quindlen/9780792242079" lj-cmd="LJLink2">Imagined London: A Tour of The World's Greatest Fictional City</a>,”</b><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;"> a wonderful book which I purchased after coming across this quote online:</span><br />
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<b style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">“London has the trick of making its past, its long indelible past, always a part of its present. And for that reason it will always have meaning for the future, because of all it can teach about disaster, survival, and redemption. It is all there in the streets. It is all there in the books.”</b><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">For this reason, very few of what are considered London's attractions are actually stereotypically “touristy.” The Eye, Madame Tussauds... maybe the London Dungeon, since they've re-done it. These are the only things that come to mind as genuine “tourist traps,” things that have very little objective value. Everything else that might make up the Top Ten Things to Do in your guidebook – the palaces, Trafalgar Square, the Globe, Westminster Abbey, and of course, the Tower – these things are important. The stories they contain will never not be relevant. They may be visited by thousands of people every day who go sheerly to tick an “experience” off a list, but if you have a slight understanding of what occurred in these places, of why they have become attractions, of whose blood was spilt here, whose bones encased there, who fell in love, what proclamation happened, what this particular spot means to history... it's enough. That's the attitude you need. So visit these places. Pick ones you know about. If you know the story of Lady Jane Grey, go to the Tower and think about her, really think about her. Feel it. Don't look at Tower Green and think “oh, how twee, look at all the cottages.” Know what you're experiencing, and let it haunt you.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">Perhaps it is something more recent – this is where Oscar Wilde bought his cigarettes, this is the Abbey Road crossing, or perhaps it's even fictional. Perhaps it's Eliza Doolittle selling flowers in Covent Garden, or Hugh Grant spilling orange juice on Julia Roberts, or figuring out where the Leaky Cauldron should be, or the Turner painting Bond and Q meet under in Skyfall. It doesn't matter if it happened or not – it is real, and it contributes to the fabric and the legend of the city and the reason why it remains, to me, the only place in the world with its own life force. So that is my primary advice. Don't coo over how Pretty and Old everything is. Don't go staring at carved stone walls and nod, knowing you're not really understanding why you've paid £12 to get in. Find the things that chill you, find the places where you can say to yourself “this happened here” and have that simple idea overwhelm you. That's what London is for.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 1.4;">~*~*~</span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">Right. Now that that's out of the way, here's the first practical tip: upon arrival, you need to immediately obtain two things – an Oyster card and a London A-Z. Oyster Cards, you will quickly discover, are a tap-on/tap-off system for buses, Tubes and trains in the </span><a data-cke-saved-href="http://www.tfl.gov.uk/" href="http://www.tfl.gov.uk/" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">Transport For London</a><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;"> network. Yes, you can buy paper day tickets or even, LOL, singles. Don't. You're stupid. Just don't do that. Get the Oyster </span><i style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">right now</i><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">. If you are in town for more than a week – or even slightly less, but you plan to use transport a lot – get the 7-day unlimited top-up, which is, I think, £30. You can also just feed as much money as you please into the card and use it as you go – it will hit an “unlimited day pass” limit at around £6 or £7 and won't charge you more than that per day. Oysters are cheaper – each trip, when not part of an unlimited pass – is still a cheaper fare than buying a paper ticket, by nearly half – and they're quicker. You need Oyster. It is not negotiable.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">The London A-Z is a street directory. Yeah, yeah, we have smartphones and GPS now, look at all the fucks I give. Get the A-Z. You might not have a UK phone plan, don't waste your roaming data on Google Maps. The A-Z comes in pocket-sized, paperback-novel sized and bigger. I have the novel-sized one. It's a detailed street atlas of the entire Greater London area, showing major landmarks and Underground stations as well. </span><b style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">No, you will not look like a tourist if you are carrying one of these. Nearly every London resident I know has one</b><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">. London is a very old, very random and very complicated city. It grew. It does not make sense, until you know it well. You will get names and places mixed up. Carry the A-Z. Do not get a tourist guide book or a big fold out map. Use the A-Z. Trust me on this.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">The two next things you need to know are interconnected: a) the Tube is easy to use, and b) you don't need to use it within zone 1 unless you're in a hurry. When you're in a Tube station, there will be little fold up maps of the Underground network. You can take one of these, everyone does. That's not touristy. No one knows the Tube map off by heart (though I've got a</span><i style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;"> lot</i><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;"> of it down.) Basically, though – once you're in Central London, all those stations on all those different lines – they're all approximately 5 minutes walk on actual land, in actual air, on the actual London streets. Say you're staying in Paddington and you have to meet someone so you can go see We Will Rock You at the Dominion Theatre outside Tottenham Court Road station. Look at your Tube map. You get the Bakerloo line to Oxford Circus and then change onto the Central line to Tottenham Court Road, right? FUCKING WRONG. You are clearly a chump, because you've chosen to see We Will Rock You, the worst show on the West End, the worst jukebox musical ever made, despite the wonderful source material. Freddie Mercury hates you. I hate you. Shut up and listen to me.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">You get the fuck out at Oxford Circus and you walk in a straight line up for five minutes up Oxford St to Tottenham Court Road. Seriously. This is a rule.</span><b style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;"><i> If you are in zone 1, and your destination is one stop along after a line change, do not make the line change.</i></b><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;"> Get off at the end of your first line, get out of the station, and walk. I love walking around in London, but this isn't why I'm saying this – we'll have a whole section on walking in a little bit. I am telling you this because you'll quickly notice that Tube stops within zone 1 are only around 60 to 90 seconds apart when you're riding the train. The trains go fairly slowly within zone 1 because they're so frequent – there will be another one only two minutes behind whatever one you're on, so they have to be paced properly and be able to brake quickly. The point is, the tube stops are all very close together. Stop looking at the spacing on your Tube map – it isn't accurate. That's why I told you to buy the fucking A-Z. Check the route while on the Tube - you can do it in the book, even if you lose phone signal.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">But it isn't just that the stations are all near enough to each other. My reasoning doesn't stop there, oh, no. I am actually trying to save you energy and effort here. If the line change is easy – like, just across the platform or whatever, or if I know it's only down one set of stairs – I take it, of course I do. I'm not a chump, and I want to save my legs for when I actually want to walk all day. The thing is, a lot of the line changes are not easy. The lines were built at different times, and so although they've built tunnels and dug in in order to connect several lines to one station, some of the connections are a real bitch, and it's very hard to remember which ones are super-easy and which ones are insanely long. Most tube stations don't have lifts – some have escalators – most just have a lot of stairs. So. Would you rather just get off at the end of your first line, walk for 5 to 7 minutes while observing London at its finest, and reach your destination, or do you want to go up a set of stairs, down another, through a tunnel that may or may not be one of the ones that makes you feel dizzy or makes you feel like you will be trapped walking in this tunnel looking for the Victoria line for the rest of your days, wait 2 minutes for another tube, go ONE STOP, get out, find your way out of that station, probably through more stairs and tunnels, just so you can arrive at the very tube stop your shitty guidebook says is the closest to the landmark of your choosing? No. Exactly. Just.. don't do that.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">That rant kind of makes me sound like I hate the Underground, when nothing could be further from the truth. I am in love with the Tube. Sometimes, I can be sitting on the Tube and be overcome with emotion and tears purely because I love the fact that I'm in London, on a Tube. It is so bloody convenient – best public transportation system in the world. Every time I come back to Sydney, it's like returning to a special hell, with our train systems. “17 minutes until the next North Shore Line train? Is this some sort of sick joke?” The Tube has constant, almost instantaneous arrivals, it goes everywhere, it's fast, and it's got a good vibe. It's not perfect – I'm sure other places have a faster, more accessible, more clinical system, with elevators everywhere, and god, luggage on the Tube can be a bitch depending on your route – but it's just really lovely to me. But if cycling is more your thing, London is relatively flat and has, in recent years, developed </span><a data-cke-saved-href="http://www.tfl.gov.uk/roadusers/cycling/14808.aspx" href="http://www.tfl.gov.uk/roadusers/cycling/14808.aspx" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">a HUGE public bike hire system</a><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">. You'll see banks of the Barclays/"Boris Johnson" bikes absolutely everywhere, and you can pick one up and park it anywhere else.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">I love the London Underground's design and branding. I love the fonts and the colours and the symbols. I love the pre-set station announcements and I can recite nearly all of them along with the recording, in the exact tone. (“The next station is Green Park. Doors will open on the right-hand side. Change for the Jubilee and Piccadilly lines. Exit for Buckingham Palace.”) I love all the references to it in British rock songs. I can stare at a Tube map for literally hours, travelling on mental journeys – I have a poster-sized one above my desk. I remember, as a child, stealing a Mind The Gap Underground symbol t-shirt from my father. I cannot remember if it was before my first trip to London, or afterwards, but I still have the shirt. The Tube is my fucking favourite and riding it “gives me a sense of enormous well-being,” to quote </span><a data-cke-saved-href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SIEsmGzo2UE" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SIEsmGzo2UE" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">a classic</a><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">Now. Food. I'm not the best person for food recommendations, as </span><a data-cke-saved-href="http://controllist.blogspot.com.au/2012/04/wild-personal-post-appears-i-have-two.html" href="http://controllist.blogspot.com.au/2012/04/wild-personal-post-appears-i-have-two.html" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">I have eating problems</a><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;"> which mean I prepare most of my food myself (god bless Tesco Express and Marks and Spencer Food Hall, both of which have much nicer, fresher and cheaper easy-to-grab foodstuffs than convenience supermarkets at home. A snack-sized packet of sugar snap peas and an individual chunk of strong cheddar, yes please, I'll take that for my train ride lunch over a McDonalds any day.) But here's a few little things, just from my experience.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">For vegetarians: the </span><a data-cke-saved-href="http://www.taylor-walker.co.uk/" href="http://www.taylor-walker.co.uk/" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">Taylor Walker</a><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;"> chain of pubs (not many pubs in London are still independently owned: to a foreigner, they won't look like a chain - they'll have individual names and just look like good old fashioned British pubs, however their business, including their menu, is part of a bigger company/franchise) does a “vegetarian fish and chips” meal that is actually a slab of battered and deep fried haloumi instead of fish, which is ingenious. However, one thing that I can and really do enjoy going out to purchase and stuff into my face is pizza.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">The UK is home to a miraculous invention called </span><a data-cke-saved-href="http://www.pizzaexpress.com/" href="http://www.pizzaexpress.com/" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">Pizza Express</a><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">. It's not a fast-food place, despite the name sounding tacky as fuck. They make hand-tossed Italian style pizza, they're licensed, they're fairly cheap and everyone goes there – it's never seen as childish or unclassy option, as, say, the eat-in Pizza Hut restaurant might be seen elsewhere. It's a legitimate restaurant, like somewhere that wouldn't be weird to go on a date, not that that's my priority... and it's a chain – there's probably somewhere between 50 to 100 of them in London. There are not words to express how happy I would be if a pizza restaurant chain of this quality and environment and this price range existed in Australia. It's just really good and really easy, which is really important to me as someone who has both physical trouble and extreme anxiety about going out to eat.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">There's a takeaway/delivery chain called </span><a data-cke-saved-href="http://www.redplanetpizza.com/index.php" href="http://www.redplanetpizza.com/index.php" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">Red Planet</a><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;"> which is some of the cheapest and yummiest junk-food style pizza I've ever had, though Domino's in the UK is also a million times nicer than Domino's in Australia or the USA. A couple of other nice eat-in restaurants I really fancy include </span><a data-cke-saved-href="http://www.sohojoe.net/" href="http://www.sohojoe.net/" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">Soho Joe's</a><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;"> – a very cool/trendy not-just-pizza restaurant and bar in Dean St, right next to the </span><a data-cke-saved-href="http://www.sohotheatre.com/" href="http://www.sohotheatre.com/" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">Soho Theatre</a><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">, which has a lot of great comedy and fringe theatre, definitely check out what's playing there – and the </span><a data-cke-saved-href="http://www.gourmetpizzacompany.co.uk/" href="http://www.gourmetpizzacompany.co.uk/" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">Gourmet Pizza Co</a><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;"> in Gabriel's Wharf. </span><a data-cke-saved-href="http://coinstreet.org/what-we-do/our-developments/gabriels-wharf/" href="http://coinstreet.org/what-we-do/our-developments/gabriels-wharf/" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">Gabriel's Wharf</a><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;"> is a redeveloped area on the South Bank, containing a lot of independent/artisan design and art shops, bars and restaurants. The pizza place is right on the riverside edge of the little enclave, and you can sit on the balcony looking straight out at the river.</span><br />
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<a data-cke-saved-href="http://southbanklondon.com/" href="http://southbanklondon.com/" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">South Bank</a><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;"> is an area that I always like to spend a day in. It's one of the more modern parts of central London, but it still manages to be charming – the view of the more majestic buildings on the north side of the river is cool at either day or night, but the long pedestrian walk along the river is also always filled with street artists, living statues, film crews, food trucks, joggers, businesspeople, tourists and life in general. The stretch I focus on is between Waterloo and Southwark Bridges, or in my language, between the National Theatre and the Globe.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">The </span><a data-cke-saved-href="http://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/" href="http://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">National Theatre</a><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;"> and </span><a data-cke-saved-href="http://www.bfi.org.uk/" href="http://www.bfi.org.uk/" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">the BFI</a><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;"> – which share the same complex, known as the Southbank Centre - both host amazing events and content, obviously. If you haven't watched the National Theatre's </span><a data-cke-saved-href="http://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/discover-more/welcome-to-the-national-theatre/50th-anniversary/national-theatre-50-on-screen" href="http://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/discover-more/welcome-to-the-national-theatre/50th-anniversary/national-theatre-50-on-screen" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">50th anniversary gala</a><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">, you're missing out, and I've attended events at the BFI ranging from the season premiere of BBC's Merlin, with the cast in attendance, to one of Joseph Gordon Levitt's HitRecord events. It's definitely worth looking up if either the National Theatre or the BFI is showing anything relevant to your interests, but if you're just passing by, even the gift shops are worth a visit. They're full of books and DVDs about film/theatre in general – they stock a lot of obscure things that you'd usually have to order online, including recordings of past productions. Outside the complex, outdoors underneath Waterloo Bridge, is another rather special shopping experience. </span><a data-cke-saved-href="http://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/visitor-info/shop-eat-drink/shops/southbank-centre-book-market" href="http://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/visitor-info/shop-eat-drink/shops/southbank-centre-book-market" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">There's a daily market for second hand books</a><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;"> - just a few rows of long tables, packed with old books. Some sellers carry random paperbacks, some have speciality collections in wooden crates, but it's charming and unpretentious and one of the coolest things to ever randomly come across.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">As you walk east along the Thames, you can enjoy the view of the river or get a little closer by doing some mudlarking - foraging the shoreline for treasures, somewhat like beachcombing. You're kind of not meant to do it unless </span><a data-cke-saved-href="http://www.walks.com/London_Walks_Home/Thames_Beachcombing_/default.aspx" href="http://www.walks.com/London_Walks_Home/Thames_Beachcombing_/default.aspx" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">you're with an organised tour</a><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">, but simply walking along the river bank is allowed, and while doing this with a friend last summer, within about 5 minutes he'd picked up a clay pipe stem (these are really common from Elizabethan times onwards, because the pipes were sold as a disposable, one-smoke thing and then just chucked away) and a purple crystal from some sort of chandelier. People find Roman coins, ship's nails, medieval roof tiles, and even older artifacts. If you're not with a Londoner who is familiar with mudlarking, do go on the tour because you will learn a lot more.</span><br />
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<a data-cke-saved-href="http://www.shakespearesglobe.com/" href="http://www.shakespearesglobe.com/" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">Shakespeare's Globe</a><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;"> – a replica of the open Elizabethan theatre where most of Shakespeare's great works premiered – is not quite </span><i style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">on</i><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">, but very close, to the site of the original structure, and hosts a long season each year of several shows including Shakespeare's own, of course, but also other Elizabethan works, like Marlowe's Faustus, and even brand new plays as well. As a throwback to the original peasant audiences, the theatre sells “groundling” tickets for £5; this gets you a standing place on the floor around the stage, like at a gig. It also has three tiers of rather uncomfortable wooden seating for a bit more, and you can rent the use of a cushion or a backrest. You can usually get at least a groundling ticket to a performance just by wandering past on the day, unless the current show features a big name - Stephen Fry recently played Malvolio in Twelfth Night there, in a production that later transferred to the West End and now New York.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">Nearly every show, though, features both veteran and young actors that, if you are a fan of the British entertainment industry and follow the BBC/theatre community, you'll know. I saw Faustas with Arthur Darvill, of Doctor Who fame, and Henry IV with Olivier-winning Roger Allam as Falstaff and The History Boys' Jamie Parker as Hal. The productions go on in all weather, rain or shine, and they are usually traditional and simple, done in the style of the theatre's original era, the music is live from period instruments.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">It's definitely an all-around “experience” – just don't start throwing rotting vegetables at the stars. The Globe was also used in the Tennant-era Doctor Who episode The Shakespeare Code, so if you can't make a production, maybe you can do their behind the stage tour and shout EXPELLIARMUS from the empty stage. Like the National, the Globe's shop is 100% worth visiting all on its own – it's full of really cool merchandise, like stylised quote t-shirts, leather journals, quill and ink sets, and live DVDs of past shows. The Globe, as a company, has a really great ethic in what they are doing – sending productions worldwide for education, and they're an official Trust, and generally it's just a place really worth supporting. They're very active on social media and I get sad every time they advertise job openings because I want to work there.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 1.4;">~*~*~</span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">London's obviously home to a lot of amazing theatre, though, and the actual West End is one of my favourite places in the world. </span><a data-cke-saved-href="http://www.londontheatre.co.uk" href="http://www.londontheatre.co.uk/" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">This little website</a><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;"> is the best for looking through </span><b style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">everything</b><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;"> playing, from huge shows to tiny ones. You can look them up via genre, opening date, celebrity stars... I always read through the entire list of what's playing whenever I'm there and make a short-list of what I want to see.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">If you're not booking online for a full price seat to something specific, visit </span><a data-cke-saved-href="http://www.tkts.co.uk/leicester-square/" href="http://www.tkts.co.uk/leicester-square/" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">the TKTS booth in Leicester Square</a><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;"> to get cheap tickets for shows that evening. They won't have everything, but they have a lot, with discounts of up to half price. There are a lot of little tourist stalls advertising West End tickets – try to avoid them. They will rip you off and TKTS is a not-for-profit company that donates money back into the theatre community. If you want to see something big – like something short-running with a massive name in it – you'll need to book in advance, like while you are planning your trip. Sometimes these shows do release last-minute rush tickets on the day of, so look out for that. The long-running popular shows like Wicked or Les Mis will sell out for weekends, but you can usually get tickets for stuff like that on a weeknight.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">Don't pick your shows based on the theatre they're housed in, but, that being said, if you happen to see something at the Theatre Royal Haymarket, the Old Vic, the Noel Coward or Wyndham's – these last two are back to back and their stage doors face each other in a little pedestrian cobbled alley with a few cute restaurants – these are some of the prettiest that I have been to. The Old Vic </span><a data-cke-saved-href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Old_Vic" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Old_Vic" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">has an important history</a><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;"> and the inside looks like a Faberge egg or something, Haymarket is a landmark for Oscar Wilde fans – two of his plays premiered here, and the other theatre he used – the St James – is no longer standing, so this one actually contains an “Oscar Wilde room” and tributes to him. If you are interested in ballet or classical concerts, the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden is also one of the most surreally beautiful places in London.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">Right at the other end of the grandeur scale is</span><a data-cke-saved-href="http://www.batterseabarge.com/" href="http://www.batterseabarge.com/" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;"> the Battersea Barge</a><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">, a tiny little gorgeous venue which literally takes place on a permanently moored boat, on the south side of the river just along from my number one fave building in the entire world, the Battersea Power Station. I saw a musical theatre cabaret at the barge, featuring six performers who have played major West End shows, just doing a review of their favourite songs for an audience of about 30. Totally fantastic. They do all sorts of events, comedy, trivia nights - be sure to check it out.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">London has a million things “to do,” in every sort of industry you can think of – theatre and music and sport and food and history and whatever... but if you're the kind of person that enjoys the media, check out </span><a data-cke-saved-href="http://www.applausestore.com/" href="http://www.applausestore.com/" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">Applause Store</a><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;"> or </span><a data-cke-saved-href="http://www.sroaudiences.com/" href="http://www.sroaudiences.com/" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">SRO Tickets</a><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;"> for free audience passes to a shitload of television tapings. Also, keep an eye on London's flagship </span><a data-cke-saved-href="http://www.apple.com/uk/retail/regentstreet/" href="http://www.apple.com/uk/retail/regentstreet/" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">Apple Store, in Regent St</a><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;"> – they have free events pretty much weekly with celebrity guests being interviewed about their current project. I find this kind of thing really enjoyable and have seen lots of great actors, writers, comedians and musicians at free appearances like this. Another basic tip is following </span><a data-cke-saved-href="https://twitter.com/SkintLondon" href="https://twitter.com/SkintLondon" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">@SkintLondon</a><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;"> - an update account that has news about cheap events and opportunities every day, all for under a tenner. They're good people.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">For music – London is obviously a huge player on the world stage, hosting some of the biggest events and raising up some of the most underground scenes. Like the theatres, I can't recommend gigs based on venues, but some of my favourites, if you happen to see someone you like playing there, include the </span><a data-cke-saved-href="http://www.unionchapel.org.uk/" href="http://www.unionchapel.org.uk/" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">Union Chapel</a><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;"> in Highbury and Islington, which is literally a converted church where you sit on pews and can get tea or hot chocolate in real mugs, or ice cream during the show; </span><a data-cke-saved-href="http://www.o2academybrixton.co.uk/" href="http://www.o2academybrixton.co.uk/" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">Brixton Academy</a><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">, which has been the Carling Academy and the O2 Academy or whatever, but remains just Brixton to most, and it's a legendary place; the tiny </span><a data-cke-saved-href="http://mamacolive.com/theborderline/" href="http://mamacolive.com/theborderline/" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">Borderline</a><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;"> just across from the old </span><a data-cke-saved-href="http://www.foyles.co.uk/" href="http://www.foyles.co.uk/" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">Foyles</a><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;"> building in Soho (this amazing, iconic bookstore just moved a few properties down Charing Cross Road!,) and the </span><a data-cke-saved-href="http://www.theunderworldcamden.co.uk/" href="http://www.theunderworldcamden.co.uk/" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">Camden Underworld</a><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">, which is the most intimate and sweatiest of rock venues, where a lot of big artists do small one-off shows. Some of my other faves – the Astoria and the Hammersmith Palais – have, in the last few years, unfortunately been closed and demolished, despite their historical significance.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">As far as movies go, besides looking up </span><a data-cke-saved-href="https://whatson.bfi.org.uk/Online/default.asp?BOparam::WScontent::loadArticle::permalink=events" href="https://whatson.bfi.org.uk/Online/default.asp?BOparam::WScontent::loadArticle::permalink=events" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">special events at the BFI</a><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">, there are a few rad options for the whole cinema experience. London has </span><a data-cke-saved-href="http://www.bfi.org.uk/bfi-imax" href="http://www.bfi.org.uk/bfi-imax" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">a huge IMAX</a><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;"> if that's your thing – it's not really mine. It also has a bunch of normal cinema chains and a lot – like, </span><i style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">a lot</i><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;"> - of independent cinemas showing ~arty things. Obviously, all the major chains in Leicester Square will be showing anything current that you could ever want to see, but just around the corner, in Leicester Place, is the </span><a data-cke-saved-href="http://www.princecharlescinema.com/" href="http://www.princecharlescinema.com/" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">Prince Charles Cinema</a><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">, an old red-velvet theatre that shows cult, arthouse and classic films, as well as a couple of current ones. It's pretty cheap – ridiculously cheap if you're a member – and it does sing-along musical events, themed marathons, pizza nights, Mean Girls “quote-a-thons” - seriously, it does so much and it is all so cool. Definitely check their schedule in advance.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">Another special experience is the </span><a data-cke-saved-href="http://www.westendfilmclub.com/" href="http://www.westendfilmclub.com/" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">West End Film Club</a><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">, an organisation that does a monthly screening of a special film – often a musical - held in the lounge of the </span><a data-cke-saved-href="http://www.centuryclub.co.uk/" href="http://www.centuryclub.co.uk/" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">Century Club</a><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;"> on Shaftsbury Avenue, a private club for the arts and entertainment industry. You know those private members clubs that Harry Styles falls out of at two in the morning, that are just a mysterious door leading to nowhere and are filled with celebrities just looking to sit around in a bar or lounge chilling out or networking without being annoyed by random passers-by with cameras? It's one of those. You'll rarely get a chance to get inside one of them, but for West End Film Club – the screening tickets are only £5!!! - you get a look inside the Century, and you're invited to stay for the whole evening, to eat there or hang out in the bar. The staff are completely unpretentious and kind, even to total noobs just there for the monthly film night.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">I've also been a frequent visitor of the two independent cinemas at Notting Hill Gate – the Gate and the Coronet. </span><a data-cke-saved-href="http://www.coronet.org/" href="http://www.coronet.org/" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">The Coronet</a><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;"> is a 19th century historic theatre which now shows a pretty big range of films. Fun fact: I once went on a date to this cinema to see a film we'd both really been looking forward to based on a bunch of Tube posters. We did not realise until we sat down and it started that the film we came to see was in French. It had subtitles, so you know, whatever, but it's an amusing memory. But it does show all sorts of things, including blockbusters. </span><a data-cke-saved-href="http://www.picturehouses.co.uk/cinema/Gate_Picturehouse/" href="http://www.picturehouses.co.uk/cinema/Gate_Picturehouse/" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">The Gate</a><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">, a slightly more modern building with a bar, right across the street, mainly shows arthouse.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">We'll hit pause on extremely excessive London bloggage here. We've entered Notting Hill, and in the next edition we'll go for a long walk around West London and talk about some museums and parks.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">Mmmm... should I go back and put pictures in this?</span><br />
<iframe allowtransparency="true" class="lj-cut-wrap" frameborder="0" lj-class="lj-cut lj-cut-close" style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; height: 9px !important; line-height: 19.600000381469727px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: 861px;"></iframe>Nataliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04859638225493801704noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1958949944432225659.post-82986351049086998292014-02-01T10:41:00.000+11:002014-02-01T13:50:59.512+11:00To Prove I'm Right, I'll Put It In A Song<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">As threatened, here's a commentated countdown of my favourite songs by seminal pop band the One Directions, in order to bludgeon, corrupt, and educate my lovely, lovely friends, who may casually be known here as "fuckin' haters." You don't have to be a hater. Hopefully this ridiculous, unnecessary, unfortunately long, uncomfortably sincere, potentially hilarious</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"> blog post will entertain one and all, especially those of you who already like 1D, or those who - like I was, back in the day, many moons ago - are casually curious.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">About a year ago, my interest in a certain boyband turned from "casual and via osmosis" to "proper obsessed." You might have picked up on that a little bit. It's possible. Now, for anyone who's seen that and sneered - I'm not going to waste all my energy explaining why you're wrong about judging One Direction, or why they are culturally important and a total game changer in terms of the pop industry and fandoms, or why each individual member is a special snowflake (even if I literally want to punch Liam in the gut right now.) If you know me, you'll know how much I care about the entertainment industry. You'll know how much store I put in artists having integrity, in how they interact with fans, in how much they buy into the hype. You'll know that I always support the underdog and that I've worked with bands and artists for free and you'll know how much I prize the organic evolution of art and of fandoms, and how much I dislike delusions and pedestalling, and how this entire concept in general is a really big part of my life and one I've expended much mental energy on.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">One Direction, to the naysayer, seem to be the opposite of everything I've claimed to value above. To the indie snobs and hardcore kids who haven't had any cause to give 1D the time of day and instantly hate on anything that screaming pre-teen girls love, I get how they'd form an instant negative judgement on everything surrounding this band. I don't approve, but I get it. But you're going to have to trust me on this one, because as I said, I'm not going to lay out all the morality-based reasons you should love One Direction right now. Just trust me - if you value artists operating with integrity and making fantastic business decisions and not adhering to a created, PR vision and managing a genuine and naturally-grown fan base, then this dumb pop band deserves your respect. I have never seen anything like what they are doing. I didn't have some sort of brainwashing or drink some Kool-Aid or start loving them as a guilty pleasure. I don't make any excuses like "oh I don't usually like boybands but they're just so fun!" Nope. My music taste is incredibly varied, it always has been, and I enjoy and respect One Direction as a band for the exact same reasons that I enjoy and respect all the other artists I love. I love 1D even harder for it, because they're doing what they're doing in the pop industry, which is typically - sometimes fairly, sometimes unfairly seen as far more false and worthless than the rock industry. Pop music is not "real music." It is much, much harder to be a popstar and be considered to have integrity than it is to be in an indie rock band and be considered to have integrity. And yet these guys are generally just doing it </span><i style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">so right</i><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">, moreso than most other acts currently out there.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">That's enough of that. I can't force people to respect One Direction - I can call them ignorant, or show them that their arguments are blustering and unfounded while dropping truth bombs on them that obliterate their point of view, or I can brattily shout YOUR FAVES COULD NEVER, but I can't force them. All I am saying is - trust me. I am not an idiot, I am not easily influenced, and in fact I'm a pretty big snob, and I respect the hell out of these kids. Hopefully that tells you something.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">What I can do is make y'all a KICK-ASS LIST OF ONE DIRECTION TUNES TO JAM TO, whether they're a guilty pleasure or a proud war chant. I've been threatening to do this for a while, and I was holding off until the Midnight Memories single was released so I could include the official video in this post. This is a countdown of my top 14 One Direction songs - it was meant to be a top ten, but I genuinely couldn't bear to narrow it down more than this, and this is my blog and it's 2014 so you get a top 14.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">This heartbreaking work of staggering genius is dedicated to all of you, to everyone throughout time who has ever lived, to the lovers, the fighters, young and old, male and female, but it's specifically dedicated to my </span><a data-cke-saved-href="http://notanotherteenwolfpodcast.tumblr.com/" href="http://notanotherteenwolfpodcast.tumblr.com/" lj-cmd="LJLink2" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Not Another Teen Wolf Podcast</a><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"> team - </span><a data-cke-saved-href="https://twitter.com/BrookWentz" href="https://twitter.com/BrookWentz" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Brook</a><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">, </span><a data-cke-saved-href="https://twitter.com/Karen_Rought" href="https://twitter.com/Karen_Rought" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Karen</a><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">, </span><a data-cke-saved-href="https://twitter.com/virtual_don" href="https://twitter.com/virtual_don" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Donya</a><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"> and </span><a data-cke-saved-href="https://twitter.com/CourtneyGuy85" href="https://twitter.com/CourtneyGuy85" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Courtney</a><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">, who are basically a bunch of clean fools, even though I love them. They are also, respectively and in varying levels of willingness, the Harry, Niall, Liam and Zayn to my tyrannical Louis in terms of running our little show. And because I have the strength of the Tommo behind me, I am going to break every. single. one. of. them.</span><br />
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<u><b>Natalie's Extremely Important Be-All and End-All Top 14 for '14 One Direction TUNEZ</b></u></div>
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Before we get started, honourable mentions must go to: <b>Rock Me</b>, the most hardcore I ever expected 1D to get before their new album came out, also, please, one day, PLEASE change the lyrics to "fuck me" while onstage, you know you want to; the "I'm a thief, I'm a thief" chant and harmonies in <b>Stand Up</b>, mmmmm; <b>Heart Attack</b> - and I'm like OWW! Never thought it'd hurt so bad! Getting over you-OUU!; <b>Moments</b> for being relatively pretty I guess but especially Harry's raw as fuck strained just-gave-head voice on his last solo;<b> Little Things</b>, again, for being kind of nice, for being a good song to showcase their voices, and especially for Harry <a data-cke-saved-href="http://youtu.be/CwhOMzkPhig" href="http://youtu.be/CwhOMzkPhig" lj-cmd="LJLink2">changing his "buts" to "ands" while doing it live</a>, I'm fucking cry, like, these lyrics have been called out as slightly problematic? and kind of like "you should be grateful because you are flawed but I love you anyway" and then you have Harry goddamn Styles changing the lyric "you still have to squeeze into your jeans but you're perfect to me" to "AND you're perfect to me" Do you know how much that means? And the little fucker does it on purpose too, it's a conscious context change - someday I will re-find a relevant tumblr post discussing this and I will link it here, but trust me it's a thing and I JUST CAN'T;<b> I Want</b> for sounding like a Panic! At The Disco song; <b>Alive</b> for being all pro-kink exploration, pro-sexual freedom "fuck yeah! what you want is okay as long as it isn't harming anyone else!"; <b>Better Than Words</b> for being an adorable baby version of the "forget-me-nots and marigolds" rip-off sentiment expressed in <a data-cke-saved-href="http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/motioncitysoundtrack/lgfuadletsgetfuckedupanddie.html" href="http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/motioncitysoundtrack/lgfuadletsgetfuckedupanddie.html" lj-cmd="LJLink2">Motion City Soundtrack's LGFUAD</a>; and <b>I Would</b> and <b>She's Not Afraid</b> for being TOTAL JAMS which very very nearly made the actual countdown - like I kept exchanging the last two spots for a really long time before I made a call and stuck by it. But it doesn't make them any less awesome. Well, marginally less awesome, I guess, given they didn't actually get a top spot. But you know. Jams.</div>
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<b style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">14. One Thing (<i>Up All Night</i>)</b><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;"><br /></span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">I must admit that a great part of my fondness for this song does come from Nick Grimshaw insistently singing it over and over again in the "Which Direction" segment of </span><a data-cke-saved-href="http://youtu.be/wYZLjzDo5Vs" href="http://youtu.be/wYZLjzDo5Vs" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">LadsFM that Harry co-hosted</a><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">, and yes, every single time I hear the song, I sing the intro in Nick's bad monotone. However, I do love this song for its own merit - once I downloaded the whole One Direction back catalogue and had watched the Up All Night tour DVD, this was the song that really stuck in my head, plus the video is super cute and has fan stuff and is all on-location Londony. It's a bit naff because it was right when they started out - it's </span><i style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">polished</i><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"> in a way that they soon realised is totally unnecessary, but you can already see the derp shining through.</span><br />
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<b style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">13. Nobody Compares <i>(Take Me Home)</i></b><br />
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<b style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">12. Through The Dark <i>(Midnight Memories</i></b><i style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">)</i><br />
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<a href="http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x185gm3_one-direction-through-the-dark-snl-7-12-13_shortfilms" target="_blank">One Direction - Through the Dark SNL 7/12/13</a> <i>by <a href="http://www.dailymotion.com/newsevoce" target="_blank">newsevoce</a></i><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">The first of many Midnight Memories tracks on this countdown. There are fourteen songs listed here - literally half are from the new album. Not only is it genuinely and objectively fucking </span><i style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">good</i><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">, miles ahead of everything else they've done, it was also written by the guys, which makes it a million times easier to truly care about the songs and their lyrics and what they might mean to the person who wrote them. Until Midnight Memories came out, my care for 1D's music was pretty tangental to my care for them as people. I enjoyed it, a lot, and I enjoyed watching what they did with it, how they performed, but it wasn't like "I love this song because they wrote it and it means something to me." The new album changed that completely. In different formations, alone or as a group, the guys wrote 15 out of 18 songs on this record - maybe not every note of every orchestration, but they wrote lyrics and melody - these are their songs and I am so proud because the whole "fake pop manufactured don't write own music" thing was one of the biggest ways that naysayers could cut them down, and I love that they've taken this into their own control in the same way they've taken all the other aspects of their brand into their own control. Through The Dark is a Louis/Liam collaboration - quite a lot of this album was written by Louis and Liam as a duo, they even registered a publishing company together. Their friendship means a LOT to me and this is probably my favourite of all the songs they did together. It's got a beautiful, driving sound and when they performed it on SNL, which is what this video is from, the response was so, so positive - floods of total randoms on Twitter being like "whoa One Direction got good" to some extent, and I thought about how proud they must be to have achieved that reaction with one of their own songs. Liam looks so nervous when he opens, and Louis looks so fucking chuffed. </span><a data-cke-saved-href="http://youtu.be/zPg2SBPrdoo" href="http://youtu.be/zPg2SBPrdoo" lj-cmd="LJLink2" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Here's the studio version too.</a><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">My fondness for this song is mixed between genuine love and total ridicule. It has gorgeous harmonies and a gorgeous chorus ("and I can lend you broken parts that might fit") - I mean, Ed Sheeran wrote it, and he's generally considered an indie genius or whatever. However, it also contains the lyrics "hole in the middle of my heart like a Polo" and "I can make your tears fall down like the showers that are British" which, yeah, no. Watching this song live is fantastic because Louis is unable to get through it without making fun of it in some way, either by ridiculous miming or rolling his eyes or just not being able to muster up a fuck to give. This song makes Louis Tomlinson hate his life, which I find terribly amusing, while also kind of actually legit loving the song. </span><a data-cke-saved-href="http://youtu.be/8cDOzrLpM8A" href="http://youtu.be/8cDOzrLpM8A" lj-cmd="LJLink2" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Studio version here.</a><br />
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<b style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">10. Midnight Memories <i>(Midnight Memories)</i></b><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">When I heard this - the title track and fourth song to the new album - I knew things were going to change pretty quickly and amazingly in One Direction-land. As mentioned previously, I used to think Rock Me was the hardest 1D would ever be allowed to, well, rock. MM is a full-on stadium 80s hair metal anthem. I cannot wait to see this motherfucker done live. It has a HUGE sound and it's totally epic and Harry is going to destroy his vocal chords doing that scream every night for a world tour but goddamn it's going to be sexy. The video was JUST released today - I was waiting for it in order to post this blog. <a href="http://studio82a.tumblr.com/post/75211296377/the-comments-on-the-mm-video-on-the-vevo-channel-are" target="_blank">While I agree with this criticism</a>, let's just enjoy it right now. First of all, my roommate saw stills from it and said "Louis looks like the villain in an 80s teen film." Friends, she said this like it was a BAD THING. What crazy talk - he is wearing a Stone Roses t-shirt and seriously they all look freaking fiiiiiiiiiine, like late 2013 pinnacle moment, they look AMAZING and a bit rough and dirty and tired like a wannabe pop punk band. Mmmm. This video re-visits a common One Direction theme (unfortunately sometimes one that crosses over to real life when Louis Tomlinson is involved) of them busting into places and making people's jobs harder with no consequences - this time a kebab shop! They're making some MIDNIGHT MEMORIES, you see, and Zayn takes over the music at the party and the record sleeve for this single is BLACK AS YOUR SOUL, AS BLACK AS THIS SONG, SO EDGY - also you can tell that they really freaking love Ben Winston because his name is in the "opening credits" and, as far as I know, pre-Winston videos never featured a "directed by." I mean he's pretty much the eighteenth member of One Direction now, along with Nick Grimshaw, Gemma Styles, Lou Teasdale, and a bunch of other people. I'm lead to believe that the Midnight Memories video implies that Harry performed sexual favours on an elderly woman in order to charm her and her mates into lending the guys their scooters. Oh my god is that Tower Bridge bit REAL or a set? I know helicopters were involved in this shoot but no that cannot be real oh god that's so terrifying and exciting apparently it is real fuck. Also, a bit which I didn't know was sung by Niall is actually sung by Niall and he's going to have to watch his voice too, or he will break it from rocking too hard. Finally, I have a genuine worry that the bit where they steal the police boat and drive/sail down the Thames is the closest that this band will ever get to re-creating SpiceWorld: The Movie, and I need them to get closer, guys. </span><i style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">I need them to get closer.</i><br />
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<b style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">09. Half A Heart <i>(Midnight Memories)</i></b><br />
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<iframe allowtransparency="true" class="lj-embed-wrap lj-rtebox" frameborder="0" id="309" lj-class="lj-embed" lj-cmd="LJEmbedLink" lj-content="<div class='lj-embed-inner lj-rtebox-inner'>Embed video</div>" lj-data="%3Cbr%3E%3Ciframe%20frameborder%3D%220%22%20height%3D%22315%22%20src%3D%22%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fembed%2FJV2l4wHOB2w%3Fwmode%3Dopaque%22%20width%3D%22560%22%3E%3C%2Fiframe%3E%3Cbr%3E" style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; height: 50px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: 776px;"></iframe><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">This is the very final track of the extended album. I'd love this a touch more if one of the boys had written it - it's one of the three tracks that were written by songwriters - but it's quite simply the most beautiful their voices have ever sounded. It's the best ballad they've ever done, the lyrics are beautiful rather than cheesy, regardless of who wrote them, and they just sound perfect and raw. I'd never outright state that Zayn is my favourite singer in the band - he's good, but Liam is better, technically, and Harry's hoarseness is more my general style - but he actually often has some of my favourite parts in songs and his "we'll go for lunch down by the river" line is maybe the most beautiful-sounding single vocal part on any 1D record, I want to live inside it.</span><br />
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<b style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">08. What Makes You Beautiful <i>(Up All Night)</i></b><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Yeah, yeah, yeah. Overplayed, overrated, easily parodied, easily mocked, questionable lyrics. Shut up. I don't care. Do you know what this song represents? Do you know what this song did? This song broke Sony's record for the highest volume of pre-sales in history. It probably broke a bunch more records as well. This is their debut single – as in, they had not released any music of their own yet. People had not heard this song. And yet it broke records IN PRE-ORDER. It wasn't that it took off once it was released and spread around. Pre-order. It debuted at number one in the UK singles charts without having had radio play, nothing. Do you understand what this means? It represents the organic and incredible support and fandom growth that this band has fostered since the X Factor. It is such a gorgeous thing to see, because of course while the X Factor is a manufactured process, in a way, it's different to the way that record companies hunt out young singers to become popstars, sign them, train them up in secret, plan a huge marketing campaign, and launch them on the world hoping for a success. That often works – the Spice Girls are an example. But 1D, for all that they were “manufactured” on the X Factor rather than forming themselves and attempting to make it big like an indie band or something – it all happened in public, with everyone watching and falling in love with them.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">X Factor is a place where hopefuls go to try and get a record deal, and it's less of a creepy marketing process than the private creation of a popstar – it's all dependant on who the public likes. The show works with that the contestants have to offer, it doesn't try to make them something they're not, and with 1D, Simon Cowell constantly stated how easy and professional the guys were, how many good ideas they had, how he didn't style them, he let them choose what they wanted, the whole way through. The feedback from all the mentors and feedback passed on from the crew and vocal coaches and stuff – everyone loved them. They were good to everyone, great to work with, professional, clever, sweet, mature. Everyone loved them and the fan response was instant and huge in a way that the show had apparently never seen before. It wasn't like they were getting special treatment – they were just part of the X Factor, all the contestants are basically treated the same in terms of makeovers and marketing during the show's run, and then when it ends most of them are never heard of again.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">It wasn't like anyone cooked up One Direction with a long game plan in advance. They built what they have purely by being themselves and earning love. People saw them, backed them, wanted them. It was pretty much a viral hit. Even in the This Is Us movie, you have Cowell being like “...I don't even know why that happened but it did. This does not usually happen.” They didn't even win, in case anyone reading this doesn't know. They came third. People who come third on X Factor usually vanish into the ether, but as if that was going to happen to them given the instant fandom they grew themselves. Their success is a matter of demand before supply, and I love that. One Direction were not craftily manufactured as a product and sold to us, in that skeezy pop-launch “here's a new popstar for you to consume!” way. They were shown to us for who they were, right from the start, and then, as I said, the demand came before the supply. They didn't win, but people WANTED to support them. They wanted the product before the product existed! So Simon Cowell says “shit son, if people want to give me money, we better make a product for them to buy!” - signs them, they record What Makes You Beautiful, breaks pre-order record. Because people loved them and wanted to support them and wanted them to succeed.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">It reminds me a bit of StarKid's success, in a way, and the way that as soon as they released a product people could pay for (the Me and My Dick original album, after the Potter stuff was released for free) that record charted on Billboard. I'm not saying 1D was a happy accident, fueled by love and innocence and puppies - but they were signed to make money because it was clear that people already loved them and wanted to support them. The success of What Makes You Beautiful always reminds me of that, and that kind of thing is so so so important. It's so so so organic as far as fan culture goes, it's so weirdly grass-roots, even for a manufactured X-Factor boyband. And so yes. What Makes You Beautiful is fucking precious.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">Plus, it's still a fucking tune, don't even front. It's physically impossible for me to NOT sing along with Zayn's bit in the second verse, no matter where I am. You'll see me doing hand gestures and shouting “to prove I'm right I’ll put it in a so-O-ong” alone, in public, whatever.</span><br />
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<b style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">07. Up All Night <i>(Up All Night)</i></b><br />
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<iframe allowtransparency="true" class="lj-embed-wrap lj-rtebox" frameborder="0" id="310" lj-class="lj-embed" lj-cmd="LJEmbedLink" lj-content="<div class='lj-embed-inner lj-rtebox-inner'>Embed video</div>" lj-data="%3Cbr%3E%3Ciframe%20frameborder%3D%220%22%20height%3D%22315%22%20src%3D%22%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fembed%2FW8HmG3Vp3w0%3Fwmode%3Dopaque%22%20width%3D%22560%22%3E%3C%2Fiframe%3E%3Cbr%3E" style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; height: 50px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: 776px;"></iframe><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">I actually thought this song was really dumb when I first sort of got to know it, but the Take Me Home tour changed that. As you'll see above - or you would have seen something similar if you saw This IS Us - the show opened with a long video intro leading into this song and hearing it takes me back to that instantly, like puts me in the moment of that extended intro, in the dark, excitement rising, spotting the silhouettes of the boys for the first time, and just knowing everything was about to kick off. The video above is nearly the same exact view I had at my first show - this side of stage position but on the other side of the arena - and the EXACT view I had at my final show. It's a silly little song (</span><a data-cke-saved-href="http://youtu.be/iGdGEuhHito" href="http://youtu.be/iGdGEuhHito" lj-cmd="LJLink2" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">here's the studio version</a><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">) but they make it work SO well live and every time I hear it I just want to be back at that tour, which was genuinely one of the best things I've ever experienced as a music fan. This song is now a memory that means a hell of a lot to me.</span><br />
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<b style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">06. Something Great <i>(Midnight Memories)</i></b><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Harry co-wrote this song with Gary Lightbody from Snow Patrol (indie cred!) and it fucking destroys me. His openness and earnestness astounds me, and he's fantastic with words, and he makes me so sad. Everything he writes is going to mean a hell of a lot to me, and everything he writes is going to spark some questions about what inspired it, but this song has a very similar theme to </span><a data-cke-saved-href="http://youtu.be/rDqoIhiUJp4" href="http://youtu.be/rDqoIhiUJp4" lj-cmd="LJLink2" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Don't Let Me Go, the solo song of his that got leaked early last year</a><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"> - the idea of wanting a relationship, a particular person, so very much and so very badly, but having that get fucked up by outside circumstances, particularly fame. "All of a sudden these lights are blinding me, I never noticed how bright they would be" "I promised one day that I'd bring you back a star, I caught one and it burned a hole in my hand" "The script was written and I could not change a thing, I want to rip it all to shreds and start again" - these are all part of the same sentiment to me, as are some of the lyrics from Happily, Harry's other song on Midnight Memories, which you'll hear more about in just a second.</span><br />
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<b style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">05. Don't Forget Where You Belong <i>(Midnight Memories)</i></b><br />
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<iframe allowtransparency="true" class="lj-embed-wrap lj-rtebox" frameborder="0" id="312" lj-class="lj-embed" lj-cmd="LJEmbedLink" lj-content="<div class='lj-embed-inner lj-rtebox-inner'>Embed video</div>" lj-data="%3Cbr%3E%3Ciframe%20frameborder%3D%220%22%20height%3D%22315%22%20src%3D%22%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fembed%2FCzSCwSDtCdk%3Fwmode%3Dopaque%22%20width%3D%22560%22%3E%3C%2Fiframe%3E%3Cbr%3E" style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; height: 50px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: 776px;"></iframe><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">If you have ever loved a band that loves each other and this song doesn't make you weep, you are a monster. This has a gentle and beautiful sound, perfect lyrics, and i</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">t's certainly made me cry far more than any other 1D song ever has. If they don't release it as a single with a tour/on the road/documentary montage video (pretty much exactly like the above fanvid, WATCH IT, it is stunning emotional terrorism) maybe after Where We Are tour, with new footage - it's a crime against humanity. Niall, who's far and away the most drama-free member of this band, wrote this song with McFly. I'm not in McFly's fandom but I know that they're a band who have been through so, so much together and are still so supportive of one another, like closer than family – best men at each other's weddings, first ones to jump out of the crowd and mob the stage when another member is participating in some special event – </span><a data-cke-saved-href="http://blackwayfarers.tumblr.com/post/75106260712/mcgalaxy-were-like-brothers-our-backgrounds" href="http://blackwayfarers.tumblr.com/post/75106260712/mcgalaxy-were-like-brothers-our-backgrounds" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">they are so bonded</a><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">. So they're writing this from a place of experience and it's so genuine, and the sentiment is something that crosses over to 1D and what they've built with each other, and that was what Niall wanted to share for this album, as opposed to a song about a girl or whatever. “If you ever feel alone–don't. You were never on your own.. and the proof is in this song.” This is his love song to the band, about feeling displaced, and I am so glad that they have each other because lone entities escalated to that level of fame so young – Bieber for example – go fucking crazy and I think that will never happen to 1D because they have each other, to diffuse situations and share wins and losses and keep each other in check. I adore this song and I'm literally crying writing this right now. I will cry so much seeing it live. Cry, cry, cry, cry, cry.</span><br />
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<b style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">04. Best Song Ever <i>(Midnight Memories)</i></b><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">This song itself is rather meaningless, but it's totally fun and a fantastic transition from the rockier stuff on Take Me Home into the overall style of Midnight Memories, which is exactly what it was intended to be. It sounds so good, and it will always mean a lot to me because I think this was the moment when One Direction really became mine, or I became theirs. This was the first proper new release of material that I was in the fandom for, but that's not exactly why... I think it was the video that really affected me, because it was the first sign of just how cool, different, organic and in control the whole Midnight Memories situation was. Like. Their previous videos were pretty standard - the directors managed to pick up on the right kind of marketing for them, but this one is just next-level. It was the first official music video they made with Ben Winston, who did a lot of camera work and production for both the previous Year in the Making documentary and the This Is Us movie. He goes on tour with them. He knows them and he knows how to show them off in the way that they want. He wrote this video treatment with James Corden, who of course is very famous, but he's also a good friend of Ben and has become a good friend of 1D and someone who has their best interests very much at heart ("</span><a data-cke-saved-href="http://youtu.be/7IHwFal2ljE" href="http://youtu.be/7IHwFal2ljE" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">You've never forgotten that pizza. I love you for that.</a><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">") This entire video - aside from being hilarious, the ridiculous character work, all that - is a tribute to these guys wanting more than anything to be themselves and to not be a product of marketing. A lot of that is self explanatory in the video, and it's a bit heavy handed - especially because they're kind of bad at acting when playing themselves, but it's fucking cool. It hammers home just how different they are to the way the boyband has usually operated. Plus of course the bad dance routine made up of all their other signature bad dance moves used in other songs. </span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">But the thing that kills me every time is that they're wearing their own clothes - in the parts where they're playing themselves, they're wearing literally their own street clothes, things I have seen them wear on other occasions casually, not things from a photoshoot or whatever. That's how far they take the whole "This Is Us" concept and it kind of makes my soul cry out and I just had so many feelings for them as an entity which up until this point had sort of been scattered and uncategorized. Seeing what they did in this video made me realise that I'd fallen in love with them, properly, without noticing.</span><br />
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<b style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">03. Stole My Heart <i>(Up All Night)</i></b><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">This song is the fucking BEST. However, it is not a One Direction song. Oh, it's not a cover, it's released by them officially on their album, but it just doesn't suit them AT ALL. It's from the first album and it's so obviously an example of the label trying to see what style would take off for them, like just throwing ideas at a wall and seeing what sticks. This one, thankfully, did not stick because this is just NOT One Direction at all - it's a full on dance floor filler, primed for a club remix. It's a rave track. It is absolutely not One Direction. But objectively it';s a fucking phenomenal song. PUT THIS ON EVERY WORK-OUT PLAYLIST OF ALL TIME. SO PUMPED. </span><a data-cke-saved-href="http://okayjokesover.tumblr.com/" href="http://okayjokesover.tumblr.com/" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">My friend Nat</a><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">, who provided most of the initial content that I ended up osmosis-ing to do with 1D, thinks it sounds like a Eurovision entry, in a good way, and it is the greatest tragedy of her life that they've never played this live.</span><br />
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<b style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">02. Happily <i>(Midnight Memories)</i></b><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Screaming. SCREAMING. Harry STYLES. You little SHIT. How DARE you write this magnificent song you horrid little boy come here and let me cradle you. The internet meltdown when this was released, my god. Objectively this is such a fucking awesome song, to start with, it is a total Mumfords/Magnetic Zeroes indie banjo shouty awesome song and I can already imagine the days when there's the Harry Styles Indie Solo Project and he plays this, flourishing his acoustic guitar at the crowd, jangling a tambourine between his knees, wearing a ridiculously large hat and being a weird cross between Pete Doherty, Patrick Wolf and William Beckett. </span><a data-cke-saved-href="http://youtu.be/qUnqu_vVKOk" href="http://youtu.be/qUnqu_vVKOk" lj-cmd="LJLink2" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Someone made an acoustic remix</a><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"> which kind of gives the impression of what that might be like... It's a fucking amazing song. NO ONE can hate this song. It is just legitimately good. And then the lyrics! Harry Styles! How very dare you write these lyrics! As I mentioned earlier, there's the same sentiment of his other songs "we were meant to be but a twist of fate made it so we had to walk away" but Happily almost feels like a solution to Something Great, in a way. But jesus fuck. "I don't care what people say when we're together." This song is about Nick Grimshaw. This song is about Caroline Flack. This song is about Louis Tomlinson. This song is about Taylor Swift. I don't know obviously and I am not doing One Direction ship wars but I DON'T CARE WHAT PEOPLE SAY WHEN WE'RE TOGETHER. This implication, man, whoever it's about. It implies publicity drama and just not giving a fuck. It implies hooking up with someone on the sly while they are purportedly with someone else. This song literally has a reference to Harry Styles coming on someone's face before that someone has to go see their real boyfriend. And it's still one of the best songs that I've ever heard. It is SO FUCKING GOOD and I am SO FUCKING PROUD OF HIM FOR EVERYTHING ABOUT THIS SONG, how brazen the lyrics are and how different the sound is from a traditional 1D song and just fucking everything. BEST. HARRY. STYLES. This absolutely has to be the next single. It HAS to.</span><br />
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<b style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">01. Kiss You <i>(Take Me Home)</i></b><br />
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<iframe allowtransparency="true" class="lj-embed-wrap lj-rtebox" frameborder="0" id="304" lj-class="lj-embed" lj-cmd="LJEmbedLink" lj-content="<div class='lj-embed-inner lj-rtebox-inner'>Embed video</div>" lj-data="%3Cbr%3E%3Ciframe%20frameborder%3D%220%22%20height%3D%22315%22%20src%3D%22%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fembed%2FT4cdfRohhcg%3Fwmode%3Dopaque%22%20width%3D%22560%22%3E%3C%2Fiframe%3E%3Cbr%3E" style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; height: 50px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: 776px;"></iframe><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Kiss You is quite simply the best pop song of the 21st century. I will fight you. It is SO good. So TELL ME girl if EVERY time we TOU-OU-OCH. You get this kinda RU-UU-USH. It is so good. Fuck you. It is SO GOOD. Okay I am going to descend into mindless shouting so some real talk here. This is the song that actually got me hooked on their music. I knew plenty of other songs, yes, and I was sort of already really invested in them as people and as a business and stuff - like I said, the music was originally SO secondary for me - and then I heard this song and I just died. This was the one. This was the one that just hooked me, and made me actually WANT to actively listen over and over and over again. I am never sick of this song. I will never be sick of this song. I have walked around listening to JUST THIS SONG on repeat more than ten times in a row. It is easily the most-played song on my ENTIRE IPOD. The break-down into the chorus, every fucking time, I'm doing like the rock finger point/fist pump combo. This song, lyrically, I admit, is dumb as all fuck. But I love that it's so blatant and sexual and kind of female dominated (if you don't wanna take it slow and you just wanna take me home) but sonically. SONICALLY. This song is the gift that never stops giving. I want to strip it apart and listen to every layer individually. It is SO complex instrumentally and vocally and sometimes I just sit there focusing on different harmony lines or drum lines or whatever. It is SO. GOOD. THERE ARE SO MANY PARTS AND THEY ARE ALL PERFECT. It is such a creative and well-crafted song. It's been ten years since I studied music theory so this is not a very good technical description but seriously listen to it and just listen to the layers. It is extraordinary and so cool. And it's so good live and was the final, explosive number of the main set, and Harry plays the drums! And it is so fun and I love it! And the video. THE VIDEO IS SO IMPORTANT because again it was one of the first thing of their actual music that I properly saw and I was like YES. Whoever is doing their marketing KNOWS THEIR SHIT and knows to just let these guys be derpy. Their upbeat songs - they never actually try to be taken seriously, and thank god because it comes across wanky. It is all light and fun and purposely idiotic - like you can't put them in costumes and try to make it an actual THING, not these guys. It has to be tongue in cheek and it has to draw back the curtain a little, it has to show how they take it as a joke, and this is so perfect. Harry covering his nipples and then his extra nipples! Zayn and his water wings because he can't swim! Also there's the ALTERNATE VERSION, below, which is even more amazing because it's like half behind-the-scenes footage and even derpier! Kiss You, you guys, KISS YOU. It's so fucking important and I am going to rock the fuck out of this at karaoke one day.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">Addendum: I also need to include these two covers because they are super special.</span><br />
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<b style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">One Way Or Another/Teenage Kicks <i>(Comic Relief single)</i></b><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">The guys went to Ghana and made this video there - they filmed it themselves, pretty simply, and donated the money they would usually budget on a video, as well as all the proceeds, to Comic Relief. You can also watch the official Comic Relief videos from their trip to the hospital in Ghana - </span><a data-cke-saved-href="http://youtu.be/ahSIW5hOonk" href="http://youtu.be/ahSIW5hOonk" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">here</a><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"> and </span><a data-cke-saved-href="http://youtu.be/b3NH0ciMP6I" href="http://youtu.be/b3NH0ciMP6I" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">here</a><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"> - they're pretty awful though, both the circumstances shown and Harry Styles sobbing his head off, so be warned.</span><br />
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<b style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">Teenage Dirtbag <i>(cover for Take Me Home tour)</i></b><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">This still amazes me - it's SO FUCKING GOOD, they sound so cool, it suits them so perfectly - Niall gets to play guitar, Harry gets to do raw croaky rock voice shit, the whine in Louis's voice (I like it, not hating, but it is a whine) is suited perfectly to the chorus, Liam's falsetto, and Zayn getting to belt out the long notes. That rockstar flailing is just a small taste of what Harry's going to be like on the next tour, I think. Calm down, Mick Jagger. This was included in the movie, but an edited version missing the middle verse. Here's the </span><a data-cke-saved-href="http://youtu.be/x_TL7WL8BkU" href="http://youtu.be/x_TL7WL8BkU" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">"studio" version - the movie clip</a><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"> - and here's a perfect </span><a data-cke-saved-href="https://soundcloud.com/zaynsquiff/teenage-dirtbag-one-direction" href="https://soundcloud.com/zaynsquiff/teenage-dirtbag-one-direction" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">audio-only soundboard recording</a><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">, but I've tried to find a live version that showcases the whole song. I've heard Harry do that opening slightly purer and with a better tone than in this particular video, he CAN nail it and he does in the alternate link, which is also live, but this particular video quality is great and involves some hilarious, shambolic banter beforehand, which is very indicative of a live 1D show. I am so sad that they won't be playing this forever, it's one of the best covers I've ever heard - certainly the best Teenage Dirtbag cover I've heard and I've seen a bunch of bands attempt to cover it. YES. SO GOOD.</span><br />
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<b style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">That's all, folks!</b><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"> I hope that you've enjoyed the slow spiral down into virtual shouting and flailing. If anyone is interested, <a href="http://www.sendspace.com/file/fg7v6m" target="_blank">I've uploaded a bit of a compilation tape here</a> - this includes all the honourable mentions as well as the countdown. I don't know if it's in order or anything, just whack it on shuffle and party, I guess. Sorry in advance.</span>Nataliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04859638225493801704noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1958949944432225659.post-32585333711152553722014-01-26T00:54:00.000+11:002014-01-26T01:46:01.038+11:002013 in Live... Thingys<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">I've taken to writing these posts while Leo is out at her rollerskating job on Saturday nights, but last weekend was pretty busy - and ended up being pretty terrible and stressful, so no blogtimes. I am sure you missed me terribly. Never fear, I have returned, and I continue to dwell in the past by recapping the goings-on of my 2013. We're now up to the various live events I attended - plays, musicals, talks, comedy, festivals and gigs.</span><br />
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<u style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;"><b>Theatre</b></u><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">That includes both plays and musicals.</span><br />
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<b style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">The History Boys - Alan Bennett<br />Sydney Opera House</b><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">I saw this twice, and I </span><a data-cke-saved-href="http://controllist.blogspot.com.au/2013/03/passing-it-on-retrospective-from.html" href="http://controllist.blogspot.com.au/2013/03/passing-it-on-retrospective-from.html" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">blogged extensively about it at the time</a><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;"> because this is my favorite play in the whole world. This production missed the mark a little. There were snatches that were right, but not enough - mainly with my fave character, unfortunately. But it WAS well done, and it was an experiment for me in seeing how I felt about that show with a new cast. Here's a bit from that blog.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">"I made myself go and see The History Boys when it ran at the Opera House last month, despite being very nervous about it. I was scared it wouldn't be the same, I was scared that it wouldn't mean as much to me. I was scared that my obsession with the characters was too tied into my fondness for the actors, after following their careers for seven years. But I forced myself to go, to go and see - to test myself on how much I really loved the work, as an entity, as opposed to loving a particular performance of the work.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">It was a successful experiment. I definitely love the work, and the work definitely stands on its own. The moment we got there, I picked up a flyer with a pictures of the eight boys on it, posing in character. Simply from their body language in these shots, I could immediately identify which characters they were meant to be. I then looked them up in the actual program, and I'd gotten six out of eight correct, and the two I mixed up with each other were a pretty understandable mix-up, especially due to one of them being the boy who, in my opinion, gave the most different/out-of-character/weak performance compared to the original."</span><br />
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<b style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">Proof - David Auburn<br />Menier Chocolate Factory, London</b><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">Um, this is a play about maths, and a guy being dead. I saw it on my birthday pretty much only because it starred Jamie Parker and I'll see him anything. It was very clever though. Sorry to all the friends I made come with me who didn't know it was a play about maths.</span><br />
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<b style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">Les Miserables<br />Queen's Theatre, London</b><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">Of course I went to see this in London - I think I've seen Les Mis on stage times than any other play, at least ten times including school productions. This is the first time I saw it since the new West End staging including the rotating stage and I'm not 100% sold on that, but there were other elements I very much enjoyed, including the work they put into characterizing a lot of the smaller roles through their background actions. Saw this twice - once in my first week with Cecile, and once alone in my last week after I saw their casting changes and knew I needed - NEEDED - to see </span><a data-cke-saved-href="http://31.media.tumblr.com/623fc45be49cfad33d680210e468dbdb/tumblr_mnywjvllMi1rief6so1_400.png" href="http://31.media.tumblr.com/623fc45be49cfad33d680210e468dbdb/tumblr_mnywjvllMi1rief6so1_400.png" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">Anton Zetterholm</a><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;"> as Enjolras, because he's the most book-canon casting that they've ever done.</span><br />
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<b style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">Macbeth<br />Trafalgar Studios, London</b><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">Strange post-apocalyptic version starring James McAvoy in the title role and a weirdly empathetic Lady Macbeth. I somehow scored front row tickets to this, which I thought, okay, that's fine, not a problem, expecting it to be a normal theatre with an orchestra pit and a risen stage. Nope. <a href="https://fbcdn-sphotos-d-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/999066_10153050089175291_966298675_n.jpg" target="_blank">It was THIS</a>. Totally modern amphitheater design. The stage is just... the floor in front of you, and very small. <a href="https://fbcdn-sphotos-h-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-frc3/t1/1011381_10153050089390291_734995111_n.jpg" target="_blank">Here's a picture of it from after the end of the show</a>. Note the remaining pool of blood. We were front and centre and spent a very long time having James McAvoy nearly fall in our laps while covered in blood. Leo loves James McAvoy, like, more than most humans on this planet. She also likes it when men have blood on them, like from a fight, she's super into it. So you'd think this would be a winning combination, but even she was like "THAT WAS TOO MUCH. THAT WAS TOO INTENSE. I'M NOT HERE FOR IT."</span><br />
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<b style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">Bare: A Pop Opera<br />Union Theatre, London</b><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">I was so so so so thrilled to find out that this was on. Bare has been one of my fave musicals for a very long time, but I had never seen it live - it isn't a very big show, it was never actually full-Broadway, just off-Broadway, and it's a bit tropey, like it sort of tries to tackle ALL! TEEN! ISSUES! a bit heavy-handedly. But I love it and I have watched versions of it on YouTube so many times and played the soundtrack so many times and there is something about that - about being a Broadway fan and loving a show so much despite never having seen it - that moment when you get to sit in a theatre and watch it live for the first time, already knowing every word? That feeling is my religion. But this production. This fucking production. Surpassed every expectation I could have ever imagined to hold. It was in a tiny black box theatre - maybe holding 60 to 80 people - no real stage, just the space in between a few rows of seats. Band tucked away behind a curtain, minimal props. But it completely transported me. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">The cast was better than any I've seen in bootlegs, despite all being British and Bare is a very American show. They just nailed everything, they knew how to use the space, they didn't overdo it. </span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">Every lead character was perfect, made very real when it would be easy to make them caricatures, but my god, the two main leads - Michael Vinsen as Peter and Ross Wild as Jason - I have never seen anything like it. Ever. I have never seen better onstage chemistry. The stories they told just through their eyes could fill libraries. I have seen a LOT of versions of this show, and while I am sure the live element does make a huge difference, they were still miles and miles ahead of anyone else. It's very easy to class those two guys as the closeted jock and the twink choirboy who wants to come out, but the way Michael did Peter had so much strength and poise and so little hysteria... like he was so settled in himself and Ross as Jason was so vulnerable and weepy, which is exactly how it should be. They got the dynamic of the text completely perfect and everyone was a great singer, all the songs were incredible, and it was just the best production of something I love that I have seen in a very long time. Saw this one twice, and it's definitely my number one top spot for this year. It was perfect.</span><br />
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<b style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">Peter and Alice - John Logan<br />Noel Coward Theatre, London</b><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">Judi Dench as Alice Liddell - the inspiration for Alice in Wonderland. Ben Whishaw as Peter Llewellyn Davies - the inspiration for Peter Pan. The fictional recreation of their one real-life meeting, and what they might have talked about - namely, how the authors ruined their lives. This play was fucked up, brilliant, and once-in-a-lifetime. If you ever get a chance to even read the script, do it, but man. This sure was something. Again, we were front row (this time with a proper stage and separation, thank god) and it was just... an experience. Maybe never see this if you cherish the idea of childhood innocence, but I don't put much store in such things.</span><br />
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<b style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">The Winslow Boy - Terrance Rattigan<br />Old Vic Theatre, London</b><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">I studied this play at school and I've never seen something at the Old Vic, so I was quite keen to go. It was rather great - I'd forgotten how much I loved both Dickie and Catherine Winslow as characters. The Old Vic is a magical place, as well, so beautiful.</span><br />
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<b style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">Even Stillness Breathes Softly Against A Brick Wall - Brad Birch<br />Soho Theatre, London</b><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">A new play, small theatre, just two cast members - one of whom was Joe Dempsie (Skins, Game of Thrones) and so I went to see this with Selina, a friend who covers GoT on Hypable. This play - about a comfortable couple that become aware of how complacent they've become and start questioning how their lives work - is so intense that at moments it felt like all the air was sucked out of the room. It literally left me breathless. There were so many quotes in it that I wanted to remember and share that I ended up buying the script, and so did Selina. It was very impressive and the kind of show that feels very adaptable - I hope to see it done again someday.</span><br />
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<b style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">A Chorus Line<br />London Palladium</b><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">Another favorite musical that I'd never seen live. I managed to get discounted tickets at the TKTS booth in Leicester Square for me and Toyah, and it meant a lot that we got to see this show together after so long. It was a fantastic end to a really awesome BFF day, and by the way, if Morales isn't your fave character in this show, you are just wrong, soz. A Chorus Line is such a weird format for a musical - one act straight through, just the people all in a line telling their individual stories to the director at the back of the room as part of an audition process. It was excellent though.</span><br />
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<b style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">The Importance of Being Earnest - Oscar Wilde<br />The Seymour Centre, Sydney</b><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">This was a rather strange production, to say the least. It featured Cecily - with massive golden curls, a gypsy shirt and a flower crown - dancing to Icona Pop while watering roses, and Algie with a quiff and a blue and yellow tartan suit with city shorts instead of pants. Needless to say, while watching them all I could think about was Harry Styles and Nick Grimshaw, so... someone should make that AU a thing, or something.</span><br />
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<b style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead - Tom Stoppard<br />Sydney Theatre Company</b><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">This was ultimately disappointing, unfortunately. I was expecting a LOT from it, and it just didn't really reach that. I mean, different directors and actors interpret things differently, but I feel like this production missed the mark as to what the two lead characters are actually like, like how they feel inside. Their dynamic with one another was kind of abusive to the point that I felt uncomfortable, which is NOT how they should be - and the take on how they played it was weird. You had Tim Minchin, as Ros, who played it with his natural Aussie accent, his usual eyeliner and mad hair, and he was kind of puppyish and okay, and then Toby Schmitz as Guil who couldn't work out what he was doing? His accent was a weird mix of like.. very traditional RSC British, and like, Bernard Black. I don't know if it was on purpose but he was all over the place and played Guil way way way too harshly. This production was a really big deal here - those actors are both fairly big in Australian theatre and Tim Minchin has a place on the world stage - but it just did not impress me. I wanted to round up everyone who attended and transport them to see the version Jamie Parker and Sam Barnett did in the West End in 2011, because it was weep-worthy perfection and and this was just not. Blahhhh.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">I'm also including here that I watched for the first time, The Book of Mormon as a bootleg DVD, original Broadway cast, as well as a non-bootleg DVD of the 25th Anniversary Les Mis concert at the O2 Arena, featuring that great moment in Drink With Me when Enjolras - Ramin Karimloo and Grantaire - Hadley Fraser - grab each other's faces and then walk offstage together to fuck while the others are all still singing.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">I also went to a cinema screening of the National Theatre's 50th Anniversary documentary and performance and I fucking sobbed the entire way through. For three hours. I'd stop for a few scenes and then I would start again. It was one of the most gorgeous and moving things I have ever seen and I am getting the DVD to keep forever, but so glad I saw it in the immersive cinema experience. I wish I could have been there in real life. Of course, The History Boys tribute scene got to me - especially as I wondered who would do Hector after Richard's recent death and then they came on and it was Alan Bennett himself doing it, which was the only appropriate response and one I hadn't considered, but so many scenes - so many plays, so much history - the Angels in America bit, Judi Dench singing Send In The Clowns, Joan Plowright doing Joan of Arc, Ralph Fiennes in Pravda, the closing scene of Frances De La Tour in The Habit of Art... and hearing everyone behind the scenes speak about how excited they were to do these various scenes, and the history behind them... It was so moving and overwhelming and just.. if that community is something that you're familiar with, this event is a must-see.</span><iframe allowtransparency="true" class="lj-cut-wrap" frameborder="0" lj-class="lj-cut lj-cut-close" style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; height: 9px !important; line-height: 19.600000381469727px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: 861px;"></iframe><br />
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<iframe allowtransparency="true" class="lj-cut-wrap" frameborder="0" lj-class="lj-cut lj-cut-open" lj-cmd="LJCut" style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; height: 9px !important; line-height: 19.600000381469727px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: 861px;" text="Comedy and Speaking Engagements"></iframe><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;" />
<u style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;"><b>Comedy and Speaking Engagements</b></u><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">This is the list of talky things basically.</span><br />
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<b style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">Neil Gaiman<br />Melbourne Wheeler Centre and Sydney Angel Place Recital Hall</b><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">Two very different events promoting the upcoming release of The Ocean at The End Of The Lane. This promotional tour gave us a world exclusive sample of the book's first few chapters, but the two events, as I mentioned, differed quite a lot. Melbourne was more of a Q and A with a host I absolutely loathed, it was so awkwardly done. Sydney was more self-run, where he just stood there and did readings, took his own questions, and did a little bit with 4Play, the string quartet. I infinitely preferred the Sydney event, but the Melbourne one had some good stuff come out of it too.</span><br />
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<b style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">Christopher Gutierrez<br />National Speaking Tour - Sydney, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney</b><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">I tour-managed Chris on this trip in April, including our first-time attempt at Perth, which was relatively successful! The bastard cut it very fine, though - we had our last event the night before not only his own flight home, but when I had to leave the country for the UK.</span><br />
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<b style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">Nick Grimshaw's Sweat the Small Stuff<br />Riverside Studios, London</b><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">Not sure how to categorize this, but this seems like the best list. Obviously, this is a television taping - actually for the first ever episode of Sweat, the very first. It was a little awkward and SO long - much longer than any taping I've been to before, and I used to go to a lot in London - but I loved getting to watch Nick, especially when the cameras were off. That was a million times more entertaining and meaningful to me than watching the actual panel show, because he is just exactly how he seems - derpy and sheepish and awkward and sweet. It really struck me how he actually came onstage, before filming started - you see hosts come on being all HELLO! I AM HERE! sort of performing to the crowd. He did not do that. God, the stupid warm-up hype man was more of a showman than him. But he did not ignore the crowd either, he just sort of walked in casually from behind the stands and waved awkwardly being like "hi everybody... you alright?" in the way he does to literally everyone, from small children to the literal Queen of England. He doesn't put anything on and just talks like everyone is normal, and on the same level, all the time, and I really really really love that about him.</span><br />
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<b style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">Unhappy Birthday - Amy Lamé<br />Camden People's Theatre, London</b><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">Bizarre comedy/cabaret/interactive performance group therapy session about a woman and her lifelong obsession with Morrissey. Katrina took this to me for my birthday present and it was ridiculously fun - I'm just super thankful that when passing the parcel, it didn't stop on me and I didn't have to get up and open a layer and participate in whatever that round's story was. The worst I got was commentary on my apparently amazing cleavage, which, coming from another lady, I will take! Let me tell you, my boobs are not often particularly extraordinary, but this was a new dress that apparently does good things. So that was fine but man, if I had to do what some of the other people had to do, I would have run out screaming.</span><br />
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<b style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">Joe Lycett<br />Hen and Chickens Pub, London</b><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">Joe is a comedian who I know from panel shows, basically. He's friends with Nick and was actually at that Sweat taping, but I had never seen his own stand-up. It was good, a bit cringey but mostly good - he definitely pushes the PC line, but many comedians do. He's also bisexual and was quite keen to find other bisexuals in the audience. Katrina has been several times and is now known to him as that girl who always brings bisexual to his shows, because every time she's attended she's had a different bi person with her. The weirdest thing about this day was that when we got to the pub, Iwan Rheon - from Misfits and GoT - was casually sitting drinking outside the same pub. We lurked him for a while but he was unfortunately not there to attend the comedy stylings of Joe Lycett.</span><br />
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<b style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">Neil Gaiman<br />Apple Store, London</b><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">This was a free event that Toy and I just caught the first half hour of before dashing into A Chorus Line - which was literally across the road - but some of what we did see really stuck with me - some stuff about families being crazy, and about weird Bible fanfiction. The interviewer was great. I believe this event is available as a podcast but I am not able to access it via Australian iTunes, so if anyone wants to help me out with that, that would be awesome.</span><br />
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<b style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">Neil Gaiman<br />The Debating Chamber, Cambridge Union Society</b><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">This was the actual event of Neil's that I had planned to go to while in the UK and purchased a ticket for and everything! I went up to Cambridge by myself - first time there, actually, and while I didn't get to go inside any of the colleges like I did in Oxford, I really loved the vibe of the town. It was a little warmer and messier... it's the baggy wool sweater with thumbholes in comparison to Oxford's pristine argyle knit cardigan. Stephen Fry writes a lot, in one of his books, about the vibe of Cambridge versus Oxford in terms of the comedy and actors that come out of both places and I could immediately see what he was talking about just from the environment of the place. I did take myself for a walk to see the Footlights theatre and take a few pictures of it. Neil's talk was in the famous Debating Chamber, a very old mini-courtroom, and the seats were rather uncomfortable but it was a good event. I lay out on the grass before it opened, reading my brand new advance copy of Ocean, and the staff running the event were super wonderful to me about getting out to get to the train station and stuff like that. I'm glad I went, even it if was a tad awkward being alone.</span><br />
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<b style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">Sir David Attenborough: A Life On Earth<br />Capitol Theatre, Sydney</b><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">Our tickets for this cost $235 per person. Worth it. 'Nuff said.</span><iframe allowtransparency="true" class="lj-cut-wrap" frameborder="0" lj-class="lj-cut lj-cut-close" style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; height: 9px !important; line-height: 19.600000381469727px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: 861px;"></iframe><br />
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<iframe allowtransparency="true" class="lj-cut-wrap" frameborder="0" lj-class="lj-cut lj-cut-open" lj-cmd="LJCut" style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; height: 9px !important; line-height: 19.600000381469727px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: 861px;" text="music"></iframe><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;" />
<u style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;"><b>Music</b></u><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">For this one, here's a straight list and then a top 5.</span><br />
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<b style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">Big Day Out</b><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;"> - Olympic Park, Sydney (watched Against Me!, Childish Gambino, Yeah Yeah Yeahs (incidentally) Vampire Weekend, The Killers, Red Hot Chili Peppers)</span><br />
<b style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">Motion City Soundtrack</b><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;"> – Factory Theatre, Sydney</span><br />
<b style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">Fun</b><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;"> - Enmore Theatre</span><br />
<b style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">Fall Out Boy</b><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;"> – Metro Theatre, Sydney</span><br />
<b style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">Fall Out Boy</b><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;"> – Palace Theatre, Melbourne</span><br />
<b style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">Iggy Pop</b><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;"> – Horden Pavilion, Sydney</span><br />
<b style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">Pete Doherty</b><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;"> – Brixton Jamm, London</span><br />
<b style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">Musical Theatre Cabaret</b><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;"> - Battersea Barge, London</span><br />
<b style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">Carl Barat</b><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;"> – Zombie Hut, Corby</span><br />
<b style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">Andrew McMahon</b><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;"> – Union Chapel, London</span><br />
<b style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">Watsky</b><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;"> – O2 Academy, Oxford</span><br />
<b style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">Slam Dunk North</b><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;"> - Leeds University (watched The Summer Set, Ace Enders, William Beckett, Andrew McMahon</span><br />
<b style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">Slam Dunk South</b><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;"> - Herts University (watched Ace Enders, William Beckett, Andrew McMahon)</span><br />
<b style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">Slam Dunk Midlands</b><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;"> - Wolverhampton Civic Hall (watched Ace Enders, The Early November, William Beckett, Andrew McMahon)</span><br />
<b style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">Darren Criss</b><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;"> – Nouveau Casion, Paris</span><br />
<b style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">Manic Street Preachers</b><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;"> - Horden Pavilion, Sydney</span><br />
<b style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">Of Monsters and Men</b><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;"> – Enmore Theatre, Sydney</span><br />
<b style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">William Beckett with The Maine and Anberlin</b><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;"> – The HiFi, Brisbane</span><br />
<b style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">William Beckett with The Maine and Anberlin</b><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;"> – Coolangatta Hotel, Gold Coast</span><br />
<b style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">William Beckett with The Maine and Anberlin</b><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;"> – Panthers, Newcastle</span><br />
<b style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">William Beckett with The Maine and Anberlin</b><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;"> – The HiFi, Sydney</span><br />
<b style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">William Beckett with The Maine and Anberlin</b><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;"> – The Gov, Adelaide</span><br />
<b style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">Amanda Palmer</b><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;"> – Enmore Theatre, Sydney</span><br />
<b style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">One Direction</b><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;"> – Allphones Arena, Sydney (6th Oct)</span><br />
<b style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">One Direction</b><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;"> – Allphones Arena, Sydney (23rd Oct)</span><br />
<b style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">One Direction</b><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;"> – Allphones Arena, Sydney (26th Oct)</span><br />
<b style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">Fall Out Boy</b><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;"> – Entertainment Centre, Adelaide</span><br />
<b style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">Fall Out Boy</b><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;"> – Entertainment Centre, Sydney</span><br />
<b style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">The Cribs</b><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;"> - Beresford Hotel, Sydney</span><br />
<b style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">Neutral Milk Hotel</b><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;"> - Enmore Theatre, Sydney</span><br />
<b style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">Franz Ferdinand</b><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;"> - Metro Theatre, Sydney</span><br />
<b style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">The Used</b><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;"> - Warped Tour Sydney</span><br />
<b style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">The Used</b><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;"> - Warped Tour Canberra</span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">Okay I lied this is a top ten because I could NOT fucking not talk about some of these others so here is a hopefully short rundown of the my top ten gig experiences of 2013.</span><br />
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<b style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">10. The Killers at Big Day Out, Sydney</b><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">I have been waiting SO LONG to see The Killers. The one time I got amazing, small venue tickets to see them, they ended up having to cancel. And they also went through a period where their stage show seemed really wanky and overblown. But god. This was perfection. Brandon Flowers might literally have the best voice in the world? I will never forget the sensation of the very light, very cold rain starting as he sung back an a capella reprise of Spaceman. Gorgeous experience.</span><br />
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<b style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">09. Darren Criss at Nouveau Casino, Paris</b><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">This wasn't my favorite Darren show of all time in terms of venue or setlist, and wow some of the fans there really took the cake in terms of horridness, but I was with awesome people and he played some awesome stuff and he didn't do the awkward, showman-y stuff he was doing on the Listen Up tour, it was thankfully more acoustic and natural. It was really fun and nice and I had missed him so I am glad I got to see him play. Seeing him afterwards was nice too, of course, and seeing his film premiere!</span><br />
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<b style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">08. Manic Street Preachers at Horden Pavilion, Sydney</b><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">This was just a really big deal show for me, it was perfect mix of really bad feels and utter ridiculousness, which is what the Manics are. I had no idea this was the first time Other Nat was seeing them or I would have offered her better moral support, because it may have been a big deal for me but it was a MASSIVE, MASSIVE deal for her. JDB can fight Brandon Flowers for best voice in history of time, and Nicky Wire is a magical sparkleprince.</span><br />
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<b style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">07. George Watsky at the O2 Academy, Oxford</b><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">To start with, we had to make the security guard cloak a bag of pine cones for us, so that was a weird start. We went down to Oxford because we couldn't make the London show and we wanted to run around Oxford colleges looking at things, which we did and was wonderful and feels-filled. The gig, I was initially going to because my buddy Dylan Saunders, of Team StarKid, was touring as Watsky's lead vocalist, but I have gotten to know George's stuff pretty well too. I've seen George Watsky before, in LA, but the sound at that show wasn't great and I was in a really awkward enclosed bar area and basically, apart from one or two songs it wasn't the most fulfilling experience. This show in Oxford was a whole other ball game. It was so fucking beautiful and uplifting and amazing, the atmosphere was so pure and euphoric and I just love George as a writer. Toy was a total Watsky virgin and was really moved by this show, it was incredibly special.</span><br />
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<b style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">06. The Used at Warped Tour Sydney</b><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">First time seeing these guys in nearly two years and it was as splendid as ever. Better, even, because you can see how things have changed with Bert for the better. Seeing him succeed and seeing him happy and not angry, seeing him focus on motivating and uplifting people, is really fucking cool.</span><br />
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<b style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">05. Andrew McMahon at Union Chapel, London</b><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">Beautiful man who always puts on beautiful shows no matter if the venue is like a dingy tent or a rock club or a concert hall. So this was extra special because Union is one of the most beautiful, ethereal venues in the world. This show should have been filmed for a live DVD. I was so so so so sick during this show - this whole week - so it's amazing I even remember it - but it was fucking lovely.</span><br />
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<b style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">04. Carl Barat at the Zombie Hut in Corby</b><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">To start with, this venue is freaking awesome? You'd never guess it - Corby is like a nothing place and this is literally a football club building on the outskirts of town but they have converted it into this AMAZING rock venue. If you see that a band you like is playing there, GO, it's like 7 quid on the train from London and it was so cool. But yes. Carl. He is good. He is nice. It was Toy's first time seeing him so that was also nice. I can't do words about Carl. Everything about him is perfect. The entire night was ridiculous - momentarily clouded by idiotic drunk people, and my god the crowd was LOUD and ROUGH (it was a full-band rock show) but it was great and he is a darling and a blessing to us all. Carl Carl Carl, Carl Carl Carl Carl.</span><br />
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<b style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">03. Fall Out Boy at the Palace, Melbourne</b><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">It's really hard to choose between the four FOB shows I saw this year - the two reunion tour ones, and the two Save Rock and Roll ones. I love the staging and the effects and Pete's speeches and everything about the Save Rock and Roll live show, and I love the new songs. And the Sydney show was tiny, I haven't seen them play a room that small since like.. 2007, and it was the first one and I got to meet them all after and it was super chill. But as an actual show? I think the Melbourne reunion tour takes the cake. Melbourne has always done well by me re: FOB - for some reason their shows there always stand out to me, but this one was just.. they were so ON, funny, and fun.. the venue was gorgeous, never been there before and I was up on a balcony but didn't even care, it is the most perfect venue with all these different vantage points. And they played Sophomore Slump which is like, possibly my favorite song of theirs - maybe it has some competition now but it was my FIRST fave FOB song, and one they played at my first ever FOB show in 2006, but arrrrrgh, there was a lot of crying taking place at that show.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">Okay. The last two are kind of a joint tie for number one for different reasons and I feel really stressed about it and what to number them so they are both number one.</span><br />
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<b style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">01. William Beckett at Slam Dunk Midlands, Wolverhampton</b><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">Again, like FOB, it's hard to make a call here out of the eight times I saw William play this year. Each show was different, he mixes up the set list and goes with the crowd, and of course there's the difference between Slam Dunk (pre-album release) and the Aussie tour where he was playing the new record. Every single show was different and there wasn't really a low point - some of the SUPER high points include him playing Classifieds at Slam Dunk North, and Sputter with Andrew McMahon at Slam Dunk South, singing Just You Wait with Kennedy from The Maine on the Aussie tour, throwing in banter from our interview in Newcastle, opening with Oh! Love at my request, going to Adelaide last-minute to see him with Bel, and hearing Benny and Joon for the first time and every time after. Each show was different and special and every moment he's onstage still means so much to me even though the number of times I've seen him play is nearing 100. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">But if I'm picking a top 2013 William Beckett Experience, it has to be the final Slam Dunk day in Wolverhampton. We - me and Amy - met up with William a few hours before his set and he took us backstage to listen to his new record, Genuine and Counterfeit. We were apparently the first people outside of his professional team to hear it, in the whole world - he literally got the master the day before. There is no way to really talk about this without sounding like a bragging wanker, but that is a thing that happened, and it means more to us than either of us can ever really describe. We get so fucking ridiculous about him every single time. You'd think we would be like, used to him by now, but that is not a thing that is going to happen and the whole thing is still just really overwhelming. The show that followed, the end of Slam Dunk for us with lots of other friends there in the audience too, was an epic one, including After The Last Midtown Show, some terrible, hysterical banter, and The Summer Set doing gang vocals on Great Night. Amy and I drove back to her place in Cheddar after the show - we had a whole playlist of music planned and didn't even turn it on because we spent the entire journey gabbling to each other about everything that had happened.</span><br />
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<b style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">01. One Direction at Allphones Arena, Sydney</b><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">How do I begin to describe my One Direction experience? Well, I did write an email on that subject, approximately 6000 words long, after my first show, which I attended alone. Again, all shows had merit for different reasons, but I think the last of the three I saw, which was also the last show they had in Sydney, was probably my favorite. We had insane seats, second row in the side box closest the stage, basically equivalent to watching from side of stage. It was like, TOO CLOSE but so fucking cool. Nat and I were both kind of mildly mentally prepared for everything by this point as we'd seen the show a couple of times each, we knew what to look out for and focus on and not miss, and it was so cool and happy and intimate. I have SUCH good videos from this, and Harry kept emotionally terrorizing children right next to us which was very traumatic, and gah, it was just so good. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">But real talk, regardless of seats, every show I went to had the best atmosphere. The crowds were just so positive - it wasn't like weird, sexually charged hysterical crying like footage of Bieber concerts. Everyone was basically just having a laugh and having fun and dressing up and being silly and fistpumping and it was fucking uplifting. It was so gleeful and positive and those boys deliver a PHENOMENAL live show, very natural and cool and way better vocals than on their recordings, and they work hard to make every show a bit different and organic, like chatting naturally, letting mistakes happen, talking to the band, their twitter questions, having fun with it. It was perfect. It made me so happy in a way very few things do - like happy in the way that you forget there is ever even a possibility of being anything other than happy. I don't mean that in a cultish, creepy way. It's such a good thing. I don't think anyone who attended their gig would fail to love it. I saw SO MANY hipster dudes with beards there. Not like, you know, the major population of the arena, but I kept spotting them. Bro Directioners are me and Nat's fave. There's SO much I could write about this, but yeah. So good. I would literally see them every single day. They did so good and I am so stupidly proud of them.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">On that note, I shall end this blog, which is also an end to my 2013 recap lists! Appropriately, next week's blog will be 1D-centric - I've been mentally working on a post for a while now about my top 1D songs - I mean I'm a sensible person with generally well-regarded taste in music, so I feel like what the world needs is a descriptive playlist of their best songs according to me, perhaps to, ahem, force some people see the light. I wanted to wait to do that until the Midnight Memories video came out, because it will be included. And it's just been announced that it comes out this Friday! So yes. Next week is 1D blog week. Don't worry, I promise not every week will be 1D blog week.</span><br />
<iframe allowtransparency="true" class="lj-cut-wrap" frameborder="0" lj-class="lj-cut lj-cut-close" style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; height: 9px !important; line-height: 19.600000381469727px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: 861px;"></iframe>Nataliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04859638225493801704noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1958949944432225659.post-57620820410067972252014-01-11T23:25:00.002+11:002014-01-11T23:27:14.792+11:002013 in Films<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Okay! <a href="http://controllist.blogspot.com.au/2014/01/2013-in-books.html" target="_blank">Last week was books</a>, n</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">ow we have my movies of 2013! The full list, then a little bit about my top ten.</span><br />
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<iframe allowtransparency="true" class="lj-cut-wrap" frameborder="0" lj-class="lj-cut lj-cut-open" lj-cmd="LJCut" style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; height: 9px !important; line-height: 19px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: 734px;" text="Natalie's Movie List - 2013"></iframe><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;" />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Similar categorising as before:</span><br />
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<b style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Bold indicates a first-time viewing.</b><br />
<i style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Italics indicate that I saw it at the cinema.</i><br />
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<b style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><i>Pitch Perfect</i><br />People Like Us</b><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Anastasia</span><br />
<i style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Les Miserables </i><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">(two - possibly three times at cinema, in addition to seeing it twice in 2012)</span><br />
<i style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><b>Hitchcock<br />Rise of the Guardians</b></i><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Eurotrip</span><br />
<i style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><b>Silver Linings Playbook</b></i><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">The Castle</span><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Looking for Alibrandi</span><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Bedazzled (the Peter Cook/Dudley Moore version)</span><br />
<b style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Reefer Madness</b><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">The Boat That Rocked</span><br />
<b style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">She's The Man</b><br />
<b style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Teen Wolf</b><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Fried Green Tomatoes At The Whistle Stop Cafe</span><br />
<b style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><i>Star Trek: Into Darkness</i><br /><i>Much Ado About Nothing<br />Behind The Candelabra<br />Imogene (Girl Most Likely)</i><br />Fun Size<br />Brave</b><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">17 Again</span><br />
<b style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Josie and the Pussycats</b><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Wimbledon</span><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Shaun of the Dead</span><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Hot Fuzz</span><br />
<i style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><b>The World's End</b></i><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Whip It</span><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">The Man In The Iron Mask</span><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Mulan</span><br />
<b style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Beautiful Thing<br />The First Time<br /><i>One Direction: This Is Us </i></b><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">(twice at cinema)</span><br />
<b style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Road to Perdition<br />White Frog</b><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Maid in Manhattan</span><br />
<b style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Leap Year<br />For A Good Time Call<br />Hysteria<br /><i>Now You See Me</i></b><br />
<b style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><i>About Time<br />Thor: The Dark World</i><br />The Prestige</b><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Romy and Michele's High School Reunion</span><br />
<b style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Beginners</b><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">The Hunger Games</span><br />
<b style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><i>Catching Fire</i><br />An Adventure in Space and Time</b><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Miracle on 34th Street</span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">That's a clean 50 all up, not counting repeats. There's a few things I haven't categorised here, like concert DVDs (This Is Us counts as a film, I think, but some concert DVDs I watched do not) and cinema-broadcast or bootleg theatre performances. Those will go into the next post, where I'll talk about live events like concerts and plays and such other good things.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">In addition to movies, I obviously watched a lot of TV. I cannot record all the TV I watch, it would be sort of impossible, but the shows I follow regularly are Glee, Teen Wolf, Doctor Who, New Girl, The Legend of Korra, Downton Abbey and Game of Thrones, all of which had stand-out moments this year. My absolute guilty pleasure show is Reign, which is so bad in so many ways, yet so brilliant in so many other ways. My favourite new TV obsessions this year were Orange Is The New Black, Vikings, Greek, Castle, and The Great British Bake-Off. Bake-Off is legitimately the only show this year I've been angry about getting spoiled for.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Here's a bit about my top 10 film experiences of 2013:</span><br />
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<b style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">10) Star Trek: Into Darkness</b><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Been waiting a long time for this one. Watched the red carpet of the London premiere. Saw the actual movie with Megan and Leo - and let me tell you, ages and ages ago Megan joked that I should come to London for the Star Trek sequel release to watch it with her, because I got her into it in 2009 and it's meant so much to us since then. LOL that it ended up actually happening? The movie isn't perfect, but the entire main cast is, and the reverse-Wrath of Khan death scene is a punch in the gut. I think I love the characters and the universe more than I objectively loved this film as a stand alone, but it made the list for the investment, excitement and anticipation of it FINALLY coming out.</span><br />
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<b style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">09) Imogene</b><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">I went to Paris to see the premiere of Imogene (called Girl Most Likely in the USA) at a French film festival that happened to coincide with my visit to the UK - well, actually I sort of extended my visit to fit it in. Getting tickets was a freaking nightmare - seeing Darren on the red carpet for his first feature film was worth it. The movie itself is a bit of an odd one, but there are some parts that were incredibly well written, and D himself is so so so good in it. It's one of those movies that's sort of hard to deal with because it's so painfully real - people doing the gross or weird things that they do in real life but that you don't often see portrayed on screen because people usually watch media for escapism and they don't actually want things to be too real. Imogene is very real, that is, until like, the last 20 minutes, where it seems like everyone involved in movie took a shitload of drugs and made something up. Still, it's pretty good. Weird, but good, and the acting is great, and I am proud of Darren for holding his own in this cast of big names.</span><br />
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<b style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">08) Much Ado About Nothing</b><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">How long have Joss fans been waiting for this damn movie to come out? This movie really has to be experienced to be understood, but what a brilliant adaptation. Alexis Denisof was unbelievably perfect, Clark Gregg went beyond perfect into sublime, and - unusually for me - I loved the physical comedy in this movie. It manages to avoid dumb slapstick while still being uncontrollably hilarious. Much Ado is such a timeless play and it's just so cool that Team Joss made this film for the hell of it. I saw this with Toy in one of my favourite cinemas in Notting Hill, and I took so many photos of the Tube posters for it.</span><br />
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<b style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">07) For A Good Time Call...</b><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Leo watched this movie on the plane and made me watch it when we got home. It's about two girls who hate each other and become roommates and start a phone sex business. It's the best movie about female friendship I have ever seen. It's written and produced by one of the female lead actors, it's so lovely and so funny and it has zero hype, because misogyny. The main girls are totally shippable, but it's also kind of nice not to, because there's so little out there about the importance of friendship, in a realistic way, and it is so gorgeous. Justin Long co-stars as the gay bff of both girls - he sets them up as roommates - and there's a ridiculous Kevin Smith cameo.</span><br />
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<b style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">06) Josie and the Pussycats</b><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">I cannot believe I had never seen this movie until this year. I watched it with Nat and Mimi and Leo after a totally ridiculous night of homemade pizza, a lot of candy, and making Nat's Harry and Louis dolls do very stupid things, and FUCK. I had sort of a mental block on this film for a long time because I had a bad association with one of the songs from it, really old high school ex stuff, but since I'm well over that now, I finally watched it and I was not, in any way, expecting the level of satire and hilarity. I had no idea it was so clever and I hate myself for spending over ten years pointedly not watching this movie.</span><br />
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<b style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">05) One Direction: This Is Us</b><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">This movie wasn't quite as good as I wanted it to be - as in, not enough candid moments and it didn't teach me anything I didn't already know about them - but it is beautifully done and fun and very dear and it made me cry and made me feel so good. We got to see this at a preview screening and we may have taken in a fair amount of alcohol and then taken a lot of drunk selfies with the 1D cardboard cutouts in the foyer afterwards - and then Nat and I saw it again later in the run, like, in the middle of the day, so we could swear angrily at the screen about Zayn buying his mum a house and like, Liam's dad crying and stuff. EMOTIONAL TERRORISM.</span><br />
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<b style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">04) Pitch Perfect</b><br />
<a data-cke-saved-href="http://controllist.blogspot.com.au/2013/01/review-pitch-perfect-acamazing.html" href="http://controllist.blogspot.com.au/2013/01/review-pitch-perfect-acamazing.html" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">I blogged about this right after we saw it.</a><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"> What a fucking masterpiece that movie is. It's going to be a classic, and I still cannot believe how much Francesca cried.</span><br />
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<b style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">03) Thor: The Dark World (MAJOR SPOILERS BELOW)</b><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Saw this by myself, cried SO FUCKING MUCH. Like curled in on myself in my seat crying. So so so sos ososososo well done. Thor was easily my favourite MCU film pre-Avengers (not that Avengers is my fave now anyway) and this was just the best follow-up to Thor and Loki's story that I could have imagined. I love Jane, I love dumb, Liam Payne-esque labrador puppy Thor, I love Darcy, I love Sif, I LOVE LOVE LOVE Frigga, I love the imagery, I love the London scenery, I love Asgard, I love the relationship between Frigga and Loki. I have massive empathy for Loki, and so much of this movie fucked me up - his reaction to her death and obviously his own as well. I am not sure exactly where they're going to take this now, given that end scene showing he's alive, because I found out from a source involved in the production - I have no idea whether this is common knowledge or not - that originally that death scene was legit, like it really was a sacrifice and a redemption, and he was meant to be gone, as a redeemed anti hero. But test audiences did not respond to it well, like, the idea of actually losing him for good, so they stuck him in again at the end. I'm not sure about that, because I really don't want the fact he's still around to take away from the integrity of what he did, for it all to be a trick or a double/triple/quadruple cross. His character is absolutely built for a redemption arc, villain to antagonist to antihero to reluctant hero, and that death moment was genuine. It was intended to be genuine. So I really hope that the reappearance is like, more similar to Spike coming back in Angel after season 7 of Buffy - something not entirely in his control, and less similar to like, Horcruxes or something. I admit I am glad he is still around.</span><br />
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<b style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">02) The World's End</b><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Leo and I got to attend a special premiere screening of this with Simon Pegg, Nick Frost and Edgar Wright. We ate Cornettos. We had a Q and A and I got to ask a question. The audience was so fantastic and responsive. The movie is one of the saddest, most wrenching things I've ever seen. I legitimately forgot, for the first half of the film, that anything supernatural/sci-fi/action was going to happen (as is the deal with the Cornetto trilogy - some bland small town life gets interrupted by Shenanigans) - I got so involved with the personal story, and I would have been totally cool if it had just been a weird emotional black comedy about Gary King and his Musketeers and his dissatisfaction with life. Gary King is Sirius Black, if Sirius had been a Muggle and not, you know, died. That is what people like that turn into, which made the whole thing hurt more for several reasons. So many little painful moments, like him still using a reference from a school in-joke everyone else had long since forgotten, that kind of stuff just stabs you, it is so awful. It's hilarious as well, at times, obviously, but yeah, it's heavy. I love these men, I love what they create together and their ethic about it - it's so complex and they put in references that like, only about 14 people will understand and they just don't care, they do it for themselves, you could dedicate years to unpicking the Trilogy, but </span><a data-cke-saved-href="http://htmlgiant.com/film/25-more-pints-revisiting-the-worlds-end/" href="http://htmlgiant.com/film/25-more-pints-revisiting-the-worlds-end/" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">here's a good blog about it</a><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">, and a </span><a data-cke-saved-href="http://whitepajamas.tumblr.com/post/72321009371/whats-so-great-about-shaun-of-the-dead" href="http://whitepajamas.tumblr.com/post/72321009371/whats-so-great-about-shaun-of-the-dead" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">brilliant blog (weirdly, by a girl I used to know IRL, but didn't know this was her tumblr) about the ethos of Shaun of the Dead</a><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"> - and I am glad I got to see the film in this situation. Also, wow, Edgar Wright has some SERIOUS issues with his hometown. I demanded that Jonathan watch this, and I think I traumatised him.</span><br />
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<b style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">01) About Time</b><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">SEE THIS MOVIE IF YOU HAVEN'T. SEE IT SEE IT SEE IT. </span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">There are no words for how good this movie was, but I attempted some for </span><a data-cke-saved-href="http://www.hypable.com/2013/12/11/best-movies-of-2013/" href="http://www.hypable.com/2013/12/11/best-movies-of-2013/" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Hypable's Movie of the Year</a><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"> post: "Confusion would be a valid response upon hearing that the latest project from Richard Curtis – the beloved writer/director of Notting Hill, Love Actually, and Four Weddings and a Funeral – is a film about time travel. But About Time is a masterpiece, ticking every box for a perfect Curtis romantic comedy – love, death, family, a focus on the little things in life, a dopey leading man, and beautiful on-location English scenery – with the fantastical element hardly seeming out of place at all. When Tim (Domhnall Gleeson) learns from his father (Bill Nighy) that the men in their family have the ability to travel back in time, his life is, understandably, somewhat changed. After a few do-overs, he gets together with Mary (Rachel McAdams) and learns how best to use his unique ability to help himself and his loved ones. About Time is one for the ages – an indescribably beautiful and surprisingly realistic look at this science-fiction concept, and it may just be Curtis’s best film yet."</span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Next up - gigs, plays, musicals, comedy, talks - live events basically.</span><iframe allowtransparency="true" class="lj-cut-wrap" frameborder="0" lj-class="lj-cut lj-cut-close" style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; height: 9px !important; line-height: 19px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: 734px;"></iframe>Nataliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04859638225493801704noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1958949944432225659.post-66921719149577878842014-01-03T23:31:00.001+11:002014-01-10T17:07:14.622+11:002013 in Books<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">My effort to blog more in 2014 starts now - I've got lists of all the books, movies, gigs etc I imbibed last year and I'm putting them up, in case anyone's interested. Here's all the books I read this year, vaguely in chronological order, plus a bit of a proper blog about my top five favourites.</span><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;" /><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;" /><b style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Bold indicates a book that I read for the first time in 2013, regardless of publishing date.</b><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;" /><i style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Italics indicate non-fiction.</i><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;" /><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;" /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Wild Magic – Tamora Pierce</span><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;" /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Wolf Speaker – Tamora Pierce</span><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;" /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Emperor Mage – Tamora Pierce</span><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;" /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Realms of the Gods – Tamora Pierce</span><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;" /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">First Test – Tamora Pierce</span><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;" /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Page – Tamora Pierce</span><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;" /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Squire – Tamora Pierce</span><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;" /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Lady Knight – Tamora Pierce</span><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;" /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Playing Beatie Bow – Ruth Park</span><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;" /><b style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Gray – Pete Wentz<br />Struck By Lightning – Chris Colfer<br /><i>How To Understand Israel in 60 Days or Less – Sarah Glidden</i><br />A Dance With Dragons – George RR Martin</b><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;" /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Young Nick's Head – Karen Hesse</span><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;" /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Rose By Any Other Name – Maureen McCarthy</span><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;" /><b style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">The Bully Book – Eric Kahn Gale</b><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;" /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Les Miserables – Victor Hugo</span><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;" /><b style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><i>Imagined London: A Tour of the World's Greatest Fictional City – Anna Quindlen</i><br />The Laying on of Hands - Alan Bennett<br />The Clothes They Stood Up In – Alan Bennett</b><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;" /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Coram Boy – Jamila Gavin</span><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;" /><b style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">The Ocean at the End of the Lane – Neil Gaiman<br /><i>Weird Things Customers Say In Bookshops – Jen Campbell</i></b><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;" /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">The Brass Opinion – Jonathan Kearns</span><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;" /><b style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">The Universe vs Alex Woods – Gavin Extence</b><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;" /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Adorkable – Sarra Manning</span><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;" /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Nobody's Girl – Sarra Manning</span><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;" /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">The Fault In Our Stars – John Green</span><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;" /><b style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">The Promise – Avatar: The Last Airbender graphic novel<br />The Search – Avatar: The Last Airbender graphic novel</b><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;" /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Bridget Jones's Diary – Helen Fielding</span><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;" /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason – Helen Fielding</span><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;" /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">My Sister Sif – Ruth Park</span><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;" /><b style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Battle Magic – Tamora Pierce</b><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;" /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">The Witch of Blackbird Pond – Elizabeth George Speare</span><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;" /><b style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Fortunately, The Milk – Neil Gaiman<br />The Radleys – Matt Haig<br />Fangirl – Rainbow Rowel</b><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">l</span><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;" /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Elidor – Alan Garner</span><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;" /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Trickster's Choice – Tamora Pierce</span><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;" /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Trickster's Queen – Tamora Pierce</span><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;" /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">The Hunger Games – Suzanne Collins</span><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;" /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Catching Fire – Suzanne Collins</span><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;" /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Mockingjay – Suzanne Collins</span><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;" /><i style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Threepenny Memoir – Carl Barat</i><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;" /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Starring Sally J Freedman as Herself – Judy Blume</span><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;" /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">The Christmas Mystery – Jostein Gaarder</span><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;" /><i style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Growning Pains – Billie Piper</i><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;" /><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;" /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Here's a little bit about my top five reading experiences of 2013:</span><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;" /><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;" /><b style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Les Miserables - Victor Hugo</b><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;" /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">In case you missed the memo, </span><a data-cke-saved-href="http://controllist.blogspot.com.au/2012/12/review-les-miserables-to-love-another.html" href="http://controllist.blogspot.com.au/2012/12/review-les-miserables-to-love-another.html" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">the Les Miserables movie adaptation coming out last Christmas was a pretty big deal to me</a><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">. This story is one of the most important things in my life and has been for a very long time. The musical came first, but I saw several film adaptations and read the book when I was in high school. Tom Hooper's film references an extraordinary, unexpected amount of book canon, and Les Mis got a huge, passionate fandom resurgence with most participants - especially fanfic writers - tackling the book. I re-read it early this year - actually, several parts of it I read a few versions of, in different translations - but the entire thing is so delightful. It's known as a tragic story and nearly everyone dies, but one of the reasons that it's so wrenching - something that the musical doesn't really show - is that you love EVERY SINGLE CHARACTER because they are all so fucking funny. They are all sassy and marvellous and it's just the most funny, sweet writing - beautiful descriptions of the human experience. Yes, Hugo quite literally loses the plot a few times when he wants to describe Waterloo or the Paris sewer systems, but like.. it is worth it, and it's all part of the charm, he's such a weirdo. Every life lesson you could ever need to learn is in that book, and I put flowers on both Hugo's tomb and the site of the barricade this summer.</span><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;" /><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;" /><b style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Imagined London: A Tour of the World's Greatest Fictional City – Anna Quindlen</b><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;" /><i style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">“London has the trick of making its past, its long indelible past, always a part of its present. And for that reason it will always have meaning for the future, because of all it can teach about disaster, survival, and redemption. It is all there in the streets. It is all there in the books.”</i><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;" /><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;" /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">I bought this book instantly after reading the above quote from it somewhere online, because I knew right away that this author clearly </span><i style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">gets</i><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"> London - gets it in a way that's so very important to me, in a way that cuts through the "So pretty! So historic!" Ye Olde Theme Park bullshit that casual visitors tend to pick up from their guidebooks. It's by an American writer, a novelist, who had a long-term love affair with London via literature before ever visiting the place, and she writes here about the London that exists in books and the London that exists in reality and the London that exists for her specifically. I've written a lot, in the past year, about the London that exists for me, as well - over 10,000 words, which I am in the process of perfecting and will post as a blog series at some point in the next few weeks.</span><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;" /><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;" /><b style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">The Universe vs Alex Woods - Gavin Extence</b><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;" /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">I kept picking up this novel in various Waterstones in London and putting it back down again, because I wasn't sure what to make of it - the blurb didn't sound like my sort of thing, but something just kept drawing me back in. Eventually I bought it and it's stunning. Absolutely astounding - not least because it's a debut novel - I am not sure I've ever read a more surprising book. The plot appears like a winding path through the woods - wanky metaphor I know, but seriously, to me it was almost tangible, how the next turn in the road would come out of the darkness and take the story smoothly to its next destination without being jolted or shocking. It's twist after twist after twist without being any sort of thriller - it really just </span><i style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">unfolds</i><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">. It includes Glastonbury hippies, getting hit by a meteor, epilepsy, Kurt Vonnegut, home marijuana cultivation, and the morality of legal assisted suicide. Above all it's about friendship. It's a special one.</span><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;" /><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;" /><b style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Fangirl - Rainbow Rowell</b><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;" /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Fangirl was my pick for </span><a data-cke-saved-href="http://www.hypable.com/2013/12/17/best-books-of-2013/" href="http://www.hypable.com/2013/12/17/best-books-of-2013/" lj-cmd="LJLink2" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Hypable's Best Books of 2013</a><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">, and here's what I wrote for the site:</span><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;" /><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;" /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">'Generally, when a book (or a movie, or a TV show) tries to portray a subculture to a wider audience, it doesn’t come across well – it tends to either turn into a caricature for "civilians" to laugh at, or it shows the community in a way that’s dumbed-down in its attempts to "translate" to the rest of the world. So, to say I was skeptical when the buzz around Rainbow Rowell’s Fangirl started growing would be a massive understatement. My fears, in this case, were misplaced. Fangirl gets it right in a way that I’ve never encountered before. I’m genuinely shocked by the lack of heavy-handed exposition about things like shipping and fanfiction – it’s brilliantly and subtly done through the use of a few incredibly likeable civilian characters. The general story of Cath and her twin sister starting out at college, their family issues and first loves, holds up on its own, and in fact tackles some pretty tricky material in terms of mental health. The description of Cath’s involvement in fandom is so spot-on that I simultaneously want to gather up every copy on the planet and hide them- it feels that much like a look at something private – and to shove a copy in the face of every civilian I know and say "Read this. Here’s the last fifteen years of my life. Now you’ll understand me."'</span><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;" /><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;" /><b style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">The Ocean At The End Of The Lane - Neil Gaiman</b><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;" /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">This book is quite difficult for me to talk about. It's Neil Gaiman's first full-length novel for adults since 2006, and it's just as strange and magical and real as his past offerings, like American Gods and Neverwhere, but it's so much more personal than his past work, in a lot of ways. It's the first novel he's ever written in the first person, and that instantly lends something to it - usually I don't really like the first person, and actually, one of Fangirl's biggest merits was that it was in third - a first-person take on that story would have made it the self-indulgent wank I feared it would be. But when Neil does first person, which I've only really seen prior to Ocean in a few of his short stories - it instantly feels like he is the narrator. Not a fictional character, </span><i style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">him</i><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">, and I see him in every line and every circumstance, I feel like those stories are the ones that start out as a true incident from his life that he then adds to, in his own way. Some of them certainly are, for a fact, and Ocean absolutely fits the bill there. It is, by open admission, almost an autobiography - it's based on things that happened in Neil's own childhood, it's his own house... elements are changed, of course, but the setting and the start of the story are true, and most importantly, the narrator - the child, who is never named, that child feels like Neil. His inner thoughts and the way he responds to what happens to him, it's meant to be Neil. He put a lot more personal experience into this book than anything he's ever done before, he was terrified of publishing it and about how it would be received, and I understand why. Something about it feels very different. I heard the first few chapters in January, read aloud by Neil at a world exclusive event, and even those few set-up moments hit me very hard. It hurt me a lot to hear about this child being unhappy. There's scenes in those first couple of chapters involving a depressing birthday party and a dead kitten that I hope with all my heart never happened to Neil, but I've got a feeling they may have.</span><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;" /><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;" /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Again, in case you missed the memo, I have a fairly personal relationship with Neil. We are friends, in a way, and have been so for nearly five years. I care about him a great deal as a human being, he has been very good to me on a personal level. I worry about his mental state and his vulnerability a lot, as well as respecting him and leaning on him. He is a dear, dear, dear man. However, my relationship with him as a person and him as a writer has never really been blurred. Most of the stuff he's written that means a lot to me is stuff I read before we ever met. Nearly everything he's published since I've known him personally has been kids stuff, which I love too, but there hasn't been anything that I've </span><i style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">felt</i><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"> him in, at least in a painful way (he's certainly very present in his children's books too, like Fortunately, The Milk.) This book, though, parts of it were really rough for me from that perspective. I cried quite a few times out of empathy for the child narrator, and I knew the child narrator was this man who I have in-jokes with and who has tried to get me a date and who helped me get into Comic-Con and who hugs like it's the last thing he'll do. So it was hard. However, objectively - as just a girl reading a novel? This book was also extremely hard in that circumstance, too. It's brilliant, a brilliant, fucked up concept. There's a part at the end, though, and it's hard to explain out of context, but it's when I realised that the whole book, the villain, the problem - that it was all a metaphor for mental illness and depression, and it is just so awful and so beautiful that when I read the climax, I cried and cried and cried, and it wasn't because I've met the author, it was because what was being said was the most important thing I've ever heard in regards to mental illness and feeling suicidal.</span><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;" /><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;" /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">At this point in the book, the narrator is trapped in a protective circle that's keeping him alive, keeping him safe from demon birds and from the villain Ursula, an evil thing that, as a worm, travelled to this world through a dark hole bored into the boy's foot, and is now posing as the family's nanny. The boy is waiting for the witch-child, Lettie, to come back and help him, and the darkness is taunting him to just give in, to just let himself die so that everything is all over:</span><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;" /><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;" /><i style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">"Now, step out of the circle and come to us. One step is all it will take. Just put one foot across the threshold and we will make all the pain go away forever: the pain you feel now and the pain that is still to come. It will never happen [...] How can you be happy in this world? You have a hole in your heart. You have a gateway inside you to lands beyond the world you know. They will call you, as you grow. There can never be a time when you forget them, when you are not, in your heart, questing after something you cannot have, something you cannot even properly imagine, the lack of which will spoil your sleep and your day and your life, until you close your eyes for the final time, until your loved ones give you poison and send you to anatomy, and even then you will die with a hole inside you, and you will wail and curse at a life ill-lived. But you won't grow. You can come out, and we will end it, cleanly, or you can die there, of hunger and of fear. And when you are dead your circle will mean nothing, and we will tear out your heart and take your soul for a keepsake."<br /><br />"P'raps it will be like that," I said, to the darkness and the shadows, "and p'raps it won't. And p'raps if it is, it would have been like that anyway. I don't care. I'm still going to wait here for Lettie Hempstock and she's going to come back to me. And if I die here, then I still die waiting for her, and that's a better way to go than you and all you stupid horrible things tearing me to bits because I've got something inside me that I don't even <b>want!</b>"</i><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;" /><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;" /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">I mean... do you understand what a big deal that is? Fuck you, depression. I'm not going to kill myself because</span><i style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"> you</i><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"> say so. I'm not going to do something because of the influence of something inside me </span><i style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">that I don't want.</i><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"> It might never get better, but at least I fucking tried and that's better than letting you win. This is seriously... I want everyone to read this, and understand it, because it's just so fucking important and inspirational and it is so beautifully done as a metaphor and it's a million times more personal and emotional than anything Neil has written before and he didn't know if it would work and guess what? It's probably his most successful book of all time, it's certainly crossed over from the cult/fantasy genre to general bestseller, and it's Book of the Year for dozens and dozens of magazines, websites and newspapers. I'm not exactly surprised.</span><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;" /><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;" /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">I have to give an honourable mention to </span><b style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">The Brass Opinion</b><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">, written by my good friend Jonathan Kearns. It's not finished yet - nearly - but I've read it as it's come along and I love it so very much. Jon started writing this book two and a half years ago, after sending me three story samples and asking me to pick which one I liked best. I'll spend time this year editing the first full draft and helping make it as perfect as it can be and helping out with his re-writes before publishing. I love the story and the characters, it hits every trope that I'm a sucker for while remaining very unique, and it is very dear to me. Hopefully it will be available to read for you all soon.</span><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;" /><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;" /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">I ended up reading 48 books this year, which seems a bit weak to me, but I've never kept tally before. I'll be aiming to beat this number in 2014, obviously, as well as aiming for a higher percentage of never-read-before entries. In addition to these books, I read many other things during 2013, including travel guides, articles, blog series, children's picture books, single-issue comics, and millions and millions of words of fantastic fanfiction, including many novel-length stories.</span><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;" /><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;" /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Next up - films!</span>Nataliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04859638225493801704noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1958949944432225659.post-19454099379144587402013-04-12T19:25:00.001+10:002013-04-12T19:25:31.517+10:00I'm going on the road this week - come hang out.<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
For those Australian followers who may
know me from Twitter, Hypable writing or my podcasts - this is my
personal invitation to you to check out something else I do, which is
happening this week. I tour-manage my buddy Christopher Gutierrez, an
independent author from Chicago, when he comes to my country to do
his talky thing.<br /><br />I would really love it if y'all would
come out and see us on tour. I do all the venue booking, travel
booking, tour management, and merch management, I travel with
Chris and run the events, and my ability to pull off these tours
is one of the only things in my life I'm legitimately proud of.<br /><br />If
you don't know who Chris is, here's my "official"
pitch:<br /><br />-----------------------<br /><br />Christopher Gutierrez is
a author, spoken word artist and founder of the independent DeadxStop
Publishing Company. He is based in Chicago, IL.<br /><br /><br />After his
blog gained recognition by many fans of the Chicacgo music scene he
grew up and worked in, Chris turned from blogs and zines to actual
books and started DeadxStop. DeadxStop has, to date, published eight
books of Chris's own autobiographical stories (including the
astonishing 4am Friends, a bleak look at sexual compulsion and a
history of sexual abuse) three books by other authors, a DVD and
several spoken word CDs. DeadxStop will next publish a book of “on
the road” tour stories by another Chicago hardcore veteran, Brian
Diaz, as well as Chris's own first work of fiction, a novel about a
dysfunctional romance. Since starting DeadxStop, Chris has worked as
a life coach, hosts a successful weekly podcast, and for fun, makes
vegan-friendly soaps. Chris has spent the last seven years touring
worldwide with his unique 'author speakings,' which feel like a mix
of stand-up, motivation, and old-fashioned storytelling, and he will
be returning to Australia in April for his fourth Australian
tour.<br /><br />"Every generation has a voice... I've already found
one. He is the father of words you are about to inhale." - Tim
McIlrath - Rise Against<br /><br />"There are very few people in
this life that we all root for. Chris is that type of kid, because he
tells it like it is - no matter how unpopular or popular it is."
- Pete Wentz - Fall Out Boy<br /><br />"Reads like a mix of
pragmatic feel-good sermons, James Frey's bloody knuckles recovery
speak, and Henry Rollins' defiant masochismo." - Chicago
Reader<br /><br />You can check out some excerpts from his
books <a href="http://www.deadxstop.com/" target="_blank">right here</a>.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />-----------------------<br /><br />Chris
is an amazing speaker, I don't think I've ever met anyone who left
one of his speakings anything less than impressed. Please come along
and say hi to him and to me - I would love to meet you all and love
you to see what we do on tour.<br /><br />All shows $15.00<br /><br />Saturday,
April 13th - Sydney. </div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
The Friend in Hand 58, Cowper St,
Glebe, NSW 2037</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
1:30pm<br /><br />Sunday, April 14 -
Brisbane. </div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
The Theaterette, Brisbane Square
Library, 266 George St, Brisbane QLD 4000</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
1:30pm<br /><br />Monday, April 15th -
Perth. </div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Frisk Small Bar, 103 Francis St,
Northbridge, WA 6003</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
7:00pm<br /><br />Tuesday, April 16th -
Adelaide. </div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Tooth and Nail Gallery, 26-28
Coromandel Place, Adelaide SA 5000</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
7:00pm<br /><br />Wednesday, April 17th -
Melbourne.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Carlton Library, 667 Rathdowne
St,Carlton North VIC 3054</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
7:00pm</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />Thursday, April 18th - Sydney
(DIFFERENT SET). </div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
The Red Rattler Theater, 6 Faversham
St, Marrickville NSW 2204</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
7:00pm</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
Nataliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04859638225493801704noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1958949944432225659.post-12154819621829940372013-03-30T21:24:00.000+11:002013-03-31T00:31:13.656+11:00Passing It On - Retrospective from a History Boys fan<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
If you follow my life in any way, you
may have picked up on the fact I care a great deal about Alan
Bennett's <i>The History Boys</i>. It is the greatest work of theatre I have
ever seen, and, by extension, my favourite film. It sounds simple
enough to say that - my favourite film, my favourite play. It's so
much more than that. It's my touchstone. I know literally every line
of the work, and quote it in conversation nearly every single day. My
best friend and I regularly text each other random quotes and the
other will follow up with the corresponding dialogue, acting out
scenes over SMS.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
I've seen the movie countless times. I
have Alan Bennett's diaries from the film's production, and my copy
of the play's original script is rarely shelved – before I sat down
to write this, I found it half-tucked under the couch, where it fell
a couple of days ago when I pulled it out to check the exact wording
of a scene that popped into my head. This is not uncommon, it's
usually on the couch or desk or coffee table – I constantly pick it
up for reference. I listen to the BBC radio-play that the original
cast made all the time - while at the gym, while walking, while
cleaning my room.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
There is never a moment when I am not
willing and able to consume this text in some format. I'm about to
receive, in the mail, an illegally-purchased bootleg of the show when
it went to Broadway in late 2006, and I am so very, very excited
about this that I've been rushing out to check the mailbox every day.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
This is how it began:</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
I was lucky enough to see <i>The
History Boys</i>, with its original National Theatre cast, on their
opening night at the Sydney Theatre Company. The show, which
premiered in London in 2004, toured Australia, New Zealand and Hong
Kong before heading to Broadway, and when they came to Sydney in
early 2006, the film had been completed but not yet released.<br />
<br />
I
did not have any sense of anticipation or excitement, going to see
this play. I had never heard of it. I was there because the parents
of my then-boyfriend had a family theatre subscription, so we were
basically told "you're seeing this play tonight." I had
never heard of any of the actors, particularly, aside from Richard
Griffiths, and I recognised Stephen Campbell Moore from a recent film
I'd seen, an adaptation of Oscar Wilde's <i>Lady Windemere's Fan</i> called
<i>A Good Woman</i>. I was intrigued and excited to notice that several of
the boys had been in a production of <i>His Dark Materials</i>, a book
series I loved (and still love) and as soon as I saw the photo of
Dominic Cooper, I knew he would have been an incredible Will Parry.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Associations with <i>His Dark Materials</i>,
Oscar Wilde, and Uncle Vernon rapidly fell away as the play began and
proceeded to change my life. I don't remember what struck me so
severely that first time – a particular scene, a quote, or anything
like that - I just remember feeling overwhelmed, full to bursting.
It made something inside of me cry out, in a way no work of theatre
ever had before. It changed me. It would go on to change my life in
many ways, but in that initial experience, something clicked, or
snapped.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
After the performance, I felt the need
to meet some of the cast, to say something, to express something of
what they had made me experience. The cast was gathered in the foyer
bar, celebrating their opening night. At this point in my life, I
hadn't met too many “celebrities,” or artists whom I admired, but
I'd met enough to know that I wasn't naturally star-struck. However,
I remember not having the courage to speak to Dom Cooper, and when I
approached Samuel Barnett – at that time, a 25-year old boy whom
three hours ago I hadn't known existed – I was so overwhelmed by
what I'd seen him do that I was trembling, physically shaking. I
don't remember what I said to him. I remember he was wearing glasses
and looked much older than on he had on stage, as Posner, and I
remember the way his hand felt when I shook it. I'm sure I said
something simple like, “that was amazing, congratulations” -
something to that extent. The only explanation I have for how
stricken I was by facing this totally unknown actor was that the work
had genuinely meant that much to me, had already lodged under my
skin.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
After that, I met Stephen Campbell
Moore, which became much more comfortable. I told him that I had
loved him in <i>A Good Woman</i>, and he was very surprised that the film
had even come out here. He was happy to talk, about that film and
about the filming of the <i>History Boys</i> movie, about how it was to tour
the play. I remember talking with him in the outdoor bar as we both
watched Richard Griffiths holding court on a bus stop seat, right on
the street outside the theatre, alongside James Corden, who at the
time had a little popularity due to starring in the show <i>Teachers</i>. We
had a great conversation – probably half an hour of chatting –
and he actually cancelled three phone calls coming in on his phone,
in order to continue talking to me. He kissed me, in response to my
compliments about the show, and again when saying goodbye. He was so
kind, and treated me with a sense of grace, familiarity and interest
that, upon reminiscing, probably set a high bar for what I now
consider to be a worthwhile fan interaction.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
The film of <i>The History Boys</i> came out
about six months after I moved to the UK. I was shocked, thrilled and
proud to see posters for the film in the Tube tunnels – I snapped a
photo and did a blog post about it at the time, as I was not aware
that the film would be having a wide release – I didn't have a
perspective on how well-known it was in England. Trailers started
showing at the cinema where I worked, before sessions of <i>The Queen</i>,
and I would sneak into the theatre each session in order to catch the
preview a few times a day. I ended up going to see the movie, by
myself, in a small screen at the Leicester Square Odeon, some time in
November.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
I loved it, of course. The film is
directed and staged very similarly to the play – it does not
attempt to make the complicated dialogue more natural, or anything
like that – so it's not really a movie <i>adaptation</i> of the story, it
<i>is</i> the original work, captured on film in a more complex set than a
theatre stage. It uses the same cast that I saw, the original
National Theatre cast, the screenplay was adapted by Alan Bennett
himself, and, like the play, it was directed by Nicholas Hytner. It's
the same team, putting on the same production - it cuts out the
breaking-the-fourth-wall monologues, but that's it, pretty much. A
few things are trimmed, and a sub-plot is removed, but nothing is
really changed about the way the characters speak and deliver their
lines. I've heard from people who aren't really into theatre, that
have only seen the movie, that this aspect it makes for a strange or
even boring experience. I have pretty much nothing to say to those
people. If a person isn't able to understand how this film is
brilliant and beautiful, my capacity to have a conversation with them
would diminish immediately – not on principle or anything, they
just clearly are not the kind of person I'll connect with. <br />
<br />
This
cast – the boys especially - are people who you know. If you're a
casual consumer of British media, of things like <i>Doctor Who</i> and
<i>Sherlock</i> and <i>Never Mind The Buzzcocks</i>, you know Russell Tovey and
James Corden - they are BBC superstars. If you follow the British
industry more closely - if you're interested in the small comedies
and historical miniseries, or if you follow theatre, you know some of
the others - Sam Barnett, Sacha Dhawan, Jamie Parker. Dom Cooper, of
course, aside from work in British TV, film, and theatre, is now a
Hollywood film star - never quite the leading man, but nicely
featured roles in <i>Captain America, An Education, Mamma Mia</i> and <i>The
Duchess</i>. He shows off his amazing diversity as the lead in biopic <i>The
Devil's Double</i>, where his character is forced into playing
body-double for the son of Saddam Hussein.<br />
<br />
You know these boys
- now. You didn't then. <i>I </i>didn't then. But since that day I have kept
tabs on the careers of each one of them, and through that, helped to develop my taste in media and found so many things that I care
about. Through the simple method of watching something that has a
History Boy in it, I've discovered the BBC Cupboard – you know,
that closet full of actors that the BBC pulls out to stick in
anything that's going on. Via association with a History Boy, I found
more shows, and people, to love and follow, and became a full-blown
fan of the current British arts industry, of the huge family of
actors that have worked together in some way – of people like
Mathew Horne, Aiden Turner, Rafe Spall, Ruth Jones, Zoe Tapper, Eddie
Redmayne, Gemma Areteton, Sam Crane, Matthew Goode, Olivia Colman,
Ben Whishaw. Throw a rock in Britain and you'll hit someone associated with <i>The History Boys</i>, by one or zero degrees of separation. Matt Smith was a History Boy, did you know? He played
Lockwood in the second run in London, while the original cast toured
overseas, and he would have been amazing. Ben Barnes signed on to
play Dakin, he had to leave due to signing on as <i>Prince Caspian,</i> but my god, he would have killed it.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Shows like<i> Being Human, Gavin and
Stacey, Beautiful People</i> and the mini-series <i>Desperate Romantics </i>have
become some of my favourite television ever. <i>Starter For Ten</i> – one
of the greatest British contemporary films – stars Dom Cooper and
James Corden with James McAvoy and Benedict Cumberbatch, though James
I already knew via <i>Shameless</i>, and actually, Stephen Campbell Moore
was in <i>Amazing Grace</i>, which was the first thing I ever saw Benedict
Cumberbatch in. If you like pain, try <i>Painted With Words</i>, a biopic of
Vincent and Theo Van Gogh, starring Cumberbatch as Vincent alongside
Jamie Parker as Theo. Jamie's also in <i>The Hour</i>, with Everyone Ever
That Was British, and James Corden snogged Nick Grimshaw at the
Brits.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
That's just the actors, though.
Following them has led me to the world of the British entertainment
industry, a place I now love deeply and wholeheartedly for so many
reasons, especially compared to the Hollywood industry. But through
the text of the play, I have come to look more personally - the way
the boys do - at certain aspects of literature, and at my way of
thinking about it. I already had Wilde, and GK Chesterton, a little -
who, in turn, sort of reminds me of Hector. I had the Romantics -
Keats the sweetheart and Coleridge the dreamer and Byron the madman.
I knew Blake and Eliot - but none of them, bar Oscar, who is in a
different part of my heart, have had the impact that the poets quoted
in <i>The History Boys</i> have had on me. It isn't <i>because</i> they're the ones
featured in the play. They affect me for the <i>same reason</i> that they're
the ones featured in the play – because it's some of the most
gutting commentary about the human condition ever put down on paper.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
I knew Auden a little already, but man,
the war poets, particularly Sassoon – that's lead to a deeper
interest and trauma about the First World War, something I already
was fairly emotionally invested in, due to the experiences of some
literary characters in novels. Then, of course, there's also A.E.
Housman, who is, now, far and away my favourite poet. I have read
every poem Housman ever published and I have dark Housman in-jokes
with one of my friends and I love him and he kills me. His stuff is
so.. bleak, but it's so real. Also, I once had Carl Barat of The
Libertines, my only idol in the truest sense of that word, recite my
favourite Housman poem directly into my ear in a salon bar in Paris,
and that was an odd moment on a journey that started with <i>The History
Boys</i>, so, you know.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Last month, I went to see a production
of <i>The History Boys</i> that was running at the Sydney Opera House. I
haven't had the opportunity before now to actually see a new run of
the show, but the idea has always filled me with trepidation, because it
wasn't <i>my</i> cast. This is an absolutely ridiculous notion for a fan of
theatre to have, because plays are changeable, the casts are always
moving on, new productions are interesting. I've fantasy-cast plenty
of my favourite plays and musicals in my mind, oh, wouldn't Jamie
Parker be amazing as Jack in <i>Earnest</i>? Gee, if Brendon Urie ever did
Broadway, he'd make a perfect Marius in <i>Les Mis</i>, he looks just like
the book description of Marius.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
I've wondered if my fear about
re-casting <i>The History Boys</i> was because it was a play I'd seen in its
original run, or because I was now used to the movie, but I don't
think it is - I've seen new shows in their original runs, and I've
seen film adaptations of theatre, and it doesn't stop me
fantasy-casting those works or being keen to see new versions. There
was just something about <i>The History Boys</i> that made me want to keep
it as it was, to protect it, or my memory of it.<br />
<br />
I made myself
go and see <i>The History Boys</i> when it ran at the Opera House last
month, despite being very nervous about it. I was scared it wouldn't
be the same, I was scared that it wouldn't mean as much to me. I was
scared that my obsession with the characters was too tied into my
fondness for the actors, after following their careers for seven
years. But I forced myself to go, to go and see - to test myself on
how much I really loved the work, as an entity, as opposed to loving
a particular performance of the work.<br />
<br />
It was a successful
experiment. I definitely love the work, and the work definitely
stands on its own. The moment we got there, I picked up a flyer with
a pictures of the eight boys on it, posing in character. Simply from
their body language in these shots, I could immediately identify
which characters they were meant to be. I then looked them up in the
actual program, and I'd gotten six out of eight correct, and the two
I mixed up with each other were a pretty understandable mix-up,
especially due to one of them being the boy who, in my opinion, gave
the most different/out-of-character/weak performance compared to the
original.<br />
<br />
The new production wasn't quite perfect, it wasn't
the same, I didn't like it quite as much, but it was <i>The History
Boys</i>, it was my show, they were those characters. My attachment
wasn't just to the one-off performances of the original cast. The
personalities of each of the characters - the meaning and implication
behind the lines performed, the analysis I've made of those boys over
the years - this company had clearly studied the text in the same
way, because despite the difference in actors - and some of them were
very different - they <i>were</i> those boys, they were easily recognizable, and they came alive again.<br />
<br />
There were a few
flaws. Unfortunately, the character I mentioned above - the one I
didn't pick out and the one who ended up being the weakest, to me,
was Scripps, who is my favourite character in the show. His good
nature, sheepishness, resignation and inner turmoil about his
religion make him incredibly complex. He's an amazing friend to both
Dakin and Posner, and he's basically an incredible role model - he's
a genuinely good person. I'm not going to write an essay on Scripps'
inner soul, but know this - I could. It's been seven years, and I'm
still not tired of how much I like Scripps. Most of the other actors
characters really <i>got</i> their characters - Dakin, Posner, Timms, Totty
and Irwin in particular were all just... Wonderful. Timms and Posner
played their roles slightly differently from the original actors, but
still in a way that was really true to the characters.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
The actor playing Scripps unfortunately
just did not get Scripps. I'm not just saying this because he's my
favourite and so I was judging him more closely, or because I'm
desperately fond of Jamie Parker, his actor - out of all the boys,
he's the dearest to me, but it's because of his own crazy self, not
because of his role, I love them both separately. I saw the show
twice, in hope that he'd improve, and I saw it the second time with
other people who know at least the film and they agreed - that actor
did not get Scripps. He was too self-satisfied, and the way he
delivered some lines completely changed the meaning and implication
of them, by extension changing the personality and intentions of the
character. He was the only one of the boys to do this, far and away
the most recognizably different. This was sad to me.<br />
<br />
Another
thing I disliked was the fact that the piano - there's piano in <i>The History Boys</i>, several singing parts, it's part of Hector's class and
in the original, Scripps is the piano player - was played by several
different boys, including Dakin and Lockwood. I presume this is
because the actor playing Scripps wasn't good enough at piano to do
the whole thing - he played on a couple of simpler things - but
Scripps as the pianist has always meant a lot to me, especially as an
accompanist to Posner. It paints a picture about their relationship
as friends, and it's one of my favourite things about the show. So it
made for weirdness to have these scenes where it's just meant to be
Dakin, Scripps and Pos, and then, because Scripps can't play the
piano, Lockwood's hanging around ineffectually. So that irked me.<br />
<br />
I
have three serious favourite scenes in the show, and, thankfully, two
of those three were really satisfying. One of my three favourites is
the "can you teach the Holocaust" lesson with the boys, Irwin and
Hector. That entire scene, the argument, the defence, makes me get
tight in the chest, every time. It makes me really feel something,
feel the anger or thrill as if I was in the class myself, wanting to
shout or contribute. This company did this scene well - even Scripps
did okay, it was the only moment where his friendship with Pos really
came across, in his defence of him in this moment. They did it
justice.<br />
<br />
The next of my favourite scenes that they really knocked out
of the park was the final scene between Dakin and Irwin, when Dakin
gets his scholarship and goes to ask Irwin out for a 'drink.' This
scene, wow, the actors playing Dakin and Irwin, their chemistry was
off the charts. It was really something, like this slight
undercurrent for most of the first act, and then as soon as they had
scenes alone - BAM. Their private scene prior to Dakin's Oxbridge
exam was also very good, but this one, I actually found it
difficult to breathe. It was electric. I've read Alan Bennett's
thoughts on this scene - that he was encouraged, for the film version
I think, to go further, that the tension wouldn't come across on
film, that they needed to make Dakin grab Irwin by the shirt, or add
a kiss. Bennett rejected this idea, and I'm glad, and I love this
scene in the movie, but it doesn't nearly give me a heart-attack the
way that this live scene did, simply from Dakin trailing one finger
over Irwin's hand. It was amazing, completely perfect.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
I suppose two out of three ain't bad,
but unfortunately the final of my three favourite scenes was very
disappointing. It's, of course, the Drummer Hodge discussion between
Hector and Posner – I'm willing to bet that if you've seen one
quote from the History Boys floating around the internet, it's
Hector's beautiful speech after he describes the meaning of a line
and Posner says “I felt that, a bit.” Hector's response is one of
the most lovely lines, a sentiment that I am sure everyone has felt,
and, upon reflection, I'm sure it was this scene that made me know,
at that opening night in 2006, that I had found something that was
going to be very important to me.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
“The best moments in reading are when
you come across something - a thought, a feeling, a way of looking at
things - that you'd thought special, particular to you ... and here
it is!, set down by someone else, a person you've never met. Maybe
even someone long dead. And it's as if a hand has come out and taken
yours.”</blockquote>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
This scene comes at a crucial time in
the play, it is quiet, it has an undercurrent of immense sadness due
to Hector's circumstances, that Posner does not yet know about, and
about how touched he is by the boy's devotion to his teachings. It is
just... really something special, and in the new production I saw, it
wasn't. It wasn't well done. Posner was fine, and actually close to
tears in his last recitation of the Hardy poem, but Hector... There
was a problem with this Hector, played by Australian TV veteran John
Wood, in the production in general, but in this scene it was just
unforgiveable. <br />
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
I'd been intending to write up my
thoughts about seeing a new version of <i>The History Boys</i> ever since I
saw it a few weeks ago, but I hadn't found the time. Yesterday, I was
making notes in my diary about writing this post. I literally put
down my pen while writing “Finish History Boys Blog” to pick up
my phone and answer a text. The text was telling me that Richard
Griffiths had died after complications with surgery. He was 65.
Hector, at the end of the play, also dies unexpectedly in his
sixties, and the irony or coincidence seemed too cruel that I just
wrote back “no, that's not possible.” I went on Twitter and I
knew it was true. Aside from news sources, the boys – Jamie, Sam,
Russell – were already grieving.<br />
<br />
I was horrified and devastated –
as a fan, because he made art that I loved, not only in <i>The History
Boys </i>but all throughout his career. But I was more deeply touched
with sorrow for those guys, especially Jamie, whom, as previously
mentioned, I am inordinately fond of, and who doesn't really hold
back when expressing his feelings, even when he has dark thoughts.
His hurt was cutting and palpable, and I was so sad that this lovely,
honest, unusual man, whom I respect and care about, had lost his
friend.<br />
<br />
But I was sad for all of them – they had been a family,
they had toured the world together for years, they are still close.
Richard Griffiths was a part of many wonderful things, and many
people will feel his loss, but this was my corner of his world, and
knowing that these people, who together made something that means the
world to me, had lost one of their own and how that must make them
feel. That hurt me much more deeply than knowing that Richard will
never sign my opening-night program alongside other members of the
cast that I've met over the years.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
It wasn't until yesterday, upon
Richard's death, that I realised exactly what John Wood lacked, as
Hector. I realised because two of his boys - Jamie Parker and James
Corden - wrote beautiful tributes to his work, and they put into
words what I could not quite grasp myself. In <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2013/mar/29/richard-griffiths-james-corden-rizzo" target="_blank">a lovely piece for the Guardian</a>, Corden wrote “Richard had an ability in even the biggest
comic creations to give his characters a humane quality – he always
played the truth of the scenes, never the jokes.” This was it, this
was it exactly. To start with, Wood didn't seem to be making a huge
effort – he forgot or messed up some lines at each performance, and
I'd know, because I was literally reciting the whole thing under my
breath, start to finish – and he also dropped his British accent a
bunch of times, like he just... stopped caring or something.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
But regardless of that, it's what
Corden mentioned – playing the truth, never the jokes – that's
the important thing. That's what made Richard as Hector so lovable,
and what Wood truly lacked. He played the jokes, hell, he added
jokes. He added strange bits of accent in some parts, doing
imitations – Scottish at some point, and in the scene where he
talks about the pronunciation of “words” sounding Welsh, he
tried to go into a Welsh accent, which was just... unnecessary and
missed the point. But the most grievous thing, in my opinion, was –
in that Hardy poem scene, in that 'hand has come out and taken yours'
scene, he played up a piece of physical comedy, in which Posner
reaches out to touch Hector's hand, and Hector smacks it away with a
finger waggle. They left a pause for laughter and everything, and I
was pretty appalled.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Jamie, <a href="http://www.twitlonger.com/show/n_1rjfuh4" target="_blank">in a Twitter essay</a>, went on to
describe another aspect of Richard's perfect performance, something
else that Wood certainly lacked:</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
“Richard was a musician. To my
knowledge he wasn’t a singer per se, or player of any particular
instruments, beyond the odd doodle on a guitar. But as much as anyone
I’ve encountered he had a complete understanding that it is what
one does with the silences between sounds that give those sounds
their impact. And even though the sounds he dealt in were those of
the spoken word, and not ‘notes’, this remains the only way to
describe his profound, innate musicianship. It only occurs to me now
just how spoilt we History Boys all were, as new practitioners of our
trade, to get to listen to Richard night after night, over two and a
half years, handling A.B.’s non-naturalistic text – those long,
elegant, carefully constructed sentences - with such natural, deft
delicacy that it just seemed self-evident those words were supposed
to be spoken that way.<br />
<br />
It may sound a ludicrous tribute, but
the man spoke in whole sentences - while making damn sure the
audience clocked every single word along the way. Honestly, there are
not many around who can do both; who can fine-tune the very same
inflection on the very same line from night to night, in order to
make it seem like it’s being thought of for the very first time.
This way of working may be less pyrotechnical than an improvised,
unpredictable, ‘dangerous’ approach, but it is every inch as
exciting, entirely as flamboyant, absolutely as compelling, just as
infinitely fascinating, vibratingly beautiful - and moreover it’s
the kind of thing that’s deeply needed if we are to retain our
ability to bring epic and larger-than-life texts to life; to manifest
them in real time for the collective mind.”</blockquote>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
John Wood as Hector really had an air
of Michael Gambon's Dumbledore about him, in the sense of not really
respecting or understanding the character he was playing or the play
he was performing in. Some scenes were fine, but never fantastic, he
was saying his lines, not feeling them, and certainly not with the spontaneity and ability to turn unnatural dialogue into perfectly
understandable conversation that Jamie described. I don't think I
realised how difficult that must be until I watched another person
fail to hold it up, and I am deeply grateful for Richard's
performance and for the fact that I both got to see it live and in a
permanently recorded fashion.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
All in all, though, seeing this new
production did prove and re-affirm my attachment to this work –
that it isn't just a fondness for an actor or a moment in time or an
association. This show, in all its forms, has changed my life in many
ways – both within its own text, my feelings about the characters,
the dialogue, quotes, the poems – and within its existence in the
real world, the actors, my interest in their careers, my interest in
theatre in general. I haven't even mentioned the writer, Alan
Bennett, who has produced many other clever, twisted and
generally brilliant works which I greatly enjoy, particularly his
novellas Smut, The Laying On Of Hands, and The Uncommon Reader. I
think, though, that first and foremost, being a fan of this play has
made me more intelligent: more interested in things, more able to
imbibe art in the way Hector wanted his boys to, for its own sake.
More able to see moments of history, and long-dead writers, as real things, real people, to have the kind of investment and empathy that I never had in my own education. It makes me want to learn, makes me consider that, with this perspective, if I went back to study now, the way I approached it may be very different, and much more successful. It's just as Posner tells Irwin about Hector - "He makes you want to."</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
At the closing of the play, after
Hector's funeral, there's a surreal scene in which Ms Lintott speaks
to the boys about their futures, how they all turned out. At the very
end, Hector appears one last time. "Pass the parcel, that's
sometimes all you can do," he tells them. "Take it, feel
it, and pass it on. Not for me. Not for you. But for someone,
somewhere, one day. Pass it on, boys, that's the game I wanted you to
learn. Pass it on."
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
They have.</div>
Nataliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04859638225493801704noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1958949944432225659.post-9695189627250620632013-03-11T02:42:00.002+11:002013-03-11T13:22:02.492+11:002013: Books I Have Read So Far<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
I started off 2013 by re-reading two
Tamora Pierce quartets. My friend Mark is reading all of her Tortall
books over on <a href="http://markreads.net/reviews/category/tortall-2/" target="_blank">Mark Reads</a>, and last year I read along with him as he
read <i>Song of The Lioness</i>, but I kind of ended up racing ahead. Tamora
Pierce was my first true obsession – I first read the
<i>Lioness</i>/Alanna books nearly 20 years ago. They were a gift from my
ex-stepmother, who had given the books to all the important young women in
her life, her nieces and god-daughter and then later, me. When she first brought
me them to read, they were not in publication – they went out of
print in the 1990s and came back in a few years later, maybe the very
late 90s or early 2000s. She lent me all the books once, and was able
to track down the first and fourth of the <i>Lioness</i> books in print in
England. When she couldn't find the others, she took her niece's copy
and recorded the entire thing aloud, the two middle novels, on
cassette tape for me, and sent them to me from England. To this day,
it's the most thoughtful and loving thing anyone has ever done for
me. I still have the tapes, and I really want to get them made into
MP3s.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Tamora Pierce's books, her characters –
they forged me. Harry Potter, a few years later, brought me into
fandom and things like that, it changed my life, but Tamora Pierce books made me who I am. I don't think anything will ever feel as <i>mine</i> as her books are, especially the Tortall books (though, in
some ways, I find the Emelan series cleverer and more pithy.) They
would be my specialty subject on any game show. I've always been
incredibly possessive over them and this world – like they're the
one thing that, if a film adaptation was made, I'd be like “wait,
wait, wait, hold the phone, this is NOT OKAY, wait, I need to be
involved in every aspect of this, I need to be the casting agent, I
need to play Alanna, nope, NO ONE CAN MAKE THIS RIGHT EXCEPT ME.”
They are my home. I cannot count
the amount of times I have read them – I am on my third copy of the
Alanna series – the first has fallen apart, and the second is on
the way. They fostered a lot of other interests in me, like
real-world medieval history and weaponry, and I'm sure that Alanna
being my major favourite fictional character from age seven made it
so I never even considered or doubted that there was anything a
little girl could not do.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
When I stayed with Anna, my
ex-stepmother, in London a couple of years ago, I visited her while
she was house-sitting for one of her nieces, who is, I guess, a few
years older than me, in her 30s. I was staying in a spare room or
study that contained a lot of books, and I saw, in her shelves, that
she had the Beka Cooper books – Tamora's latest series, published in the last three or four years, which is a
Tortall prequel series. This made me so incredibly emotional – I've
never met this girl, this niece, but she had the books, Anna had
given her the Alanna books as a young teen and she, like me, has kept
Tammy all her life, she's kept buying the new releases, she's kept
caring, well into adulthood. This surprised me, and meant so much to
me. I've rarely felt so connected to someone, and this is a girl I'd
never met or even really seen a photo of. I just saw those recent
copies and knew she'd taken the same path as me. It was a really
special experience.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
One great thing about Tammy is that the
books never quite feel the same – as I've grown and changed, I've
viewed the books and various characters differently. The Alanna
series used to be my world, and while it is always going to be the
most special to me, I can look at it objectively now and see that
it's quite rough and simplistic. I can see the restrictions put upon
her by publishing as an unknown author in the 1980s, I can see the inconsistencies that
are ironed out in later series set in Tortall, even in things like
dialogue, slang they'd use. That is not to say that it doesn't still mean
the world to me, because it does, they do. The characters in those
books... are my friends. I can visualise them better than any other
fictional characters, and I love them. I just wish that they could
have been given the same opportunities, of length and
progressiveness, as her later publications, in the 1990s/2000s. Like,
my god, as an older reader, the canonical subtext between Thom and
Roger is... almost painful, and it would be so cool to see those
books exploring the full potential that they could have had. But they
were an author's first work, and in the 80s, and at a time when it
was hard enough to get a fantasy book taken seriously, especially one
with a girl protagonist. Oh well. They're still great, they're
still an amazing adventure and they're still my world. Hogwarts is for all of us. Tortall is for me.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
The second series set in Tortall,
around 10 years after the end of the first, is Daine's series, <i>The
Immortals</i>, and that was the first thing I read in 2013.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<b>The Immortals Quartet:</b></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
1. Wild Magic</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
2. Wolf-Speaker</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
3. Emperor Mage</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
4. Realms of the Gods</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
I realised on this re-read that my
perspective on these books has changed the most out of any of Tammy's
quartets. The format of them is quite different – both Alanna's
series and Kel's, the next one, cover long periods of time – around
ten years in total, each series. They're a pretty specific formula.
The Daine books cover short periods of time – once a year, we drop
into a specific adventure or conflict that covers a few weeks of
Daine's life, rather than following her over the entire period of
those four years. I found on this re-read that I actually really like
this aspect, the close, fast-pasted, detailed coverage of a specific event rather than the
vague coverage of four years in one book with a few main highlights.
It is a lot more in-depth and interesting. I also liked Daine a lot
more than I ever have before – I always loved her powers,
naturally, but I don't think I much liked her for herself, I found her a bit tedious, and
looking at her now, that's really changed for me. I – and I think
this is an age thing – am also now obsessed with Numair. I used to
not really notice him that much, and was never moved by his
relationship with Daine. He, on this re-read, became my favourite
romantic character of Tammy's. As a younger reader, I was a bit
weirded out by the eventual Daine/Numair romance. It seemed strange
to me, not inappropriate exactly, but not realistic and the age-gap
put me off. I think this is because I was too young or immature,
because now, at someone closer to his age – I'm seeing him not as a odd teacher figure, but as quite a sweet boy – which he IS, I
just didn't realise that when I was 13. He's a total darling, and I love
him, and I now see him as younger and more relatable than I ever did before. </div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
As I
mentioned, my attitude towards Daine herself has also completely
changed – I don't know why, or what changed, because it isn't as if
I haven't read the books a lot, it isn't as if I read them once at 13
and once now. But something shifted for the better, and I now adore
Daine's series. I've always loved Kitten, and I love what we see of
Thayet, Jonathan, George and Alanna in this series, the progress of
Tortall in the ten years since we left them. I love Maura of Dunlath.
I love Kaddar – <i>Emperor Mage</i> has always been one of my favourite of
Tammy's books, no matter what I thought of Daine I always found that
story one of the best. And I always liked Rikash, but on this
re-read, my liking of Rikash turned to full-blown favourite character
obsession. I love every single word he says, I love what he
represents, how he changes Daine's perspective and prejudices, and I
actually put off finishing <i>Realms of the Gods</i> because of how much I
knew I was going to not handle his death scene. I'd read it many
times before and never been desperately hurt by it, but I knew this time
wouldn't be the same – I know the books almost off by heart, and I
remembered what Daine's inner thoughts were, and I knew it was going
to wreck me, and it did. It was awful. It is awful. It is the worst
death in any of her books, like the most viscerally, emotionally,
painfully written for me. More than Alanna losing Thom, more than
Liam, more than the little boys in the Trickster books. Daine staring
at him getting killed from afar, screaming without realising it. “It
was her voice. If she screamed loud enough, long enough, he would
live. She hadn't realised that he meant something to her. She hadn't
realised her was her friend.”</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Jesus fucking Christ, right?</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<b>The Protector of the Small Quartet:</b></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
5. First Test</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
6. Page</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
7. Squire</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
8. Lady Knight</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Kel's books have always been a solid
favourite for me, because they take that original structure of
<i>Lioness</i> – page and squire training, knighthood, and then out into
the world – but they totally flip it around, showing the
developments in the system since Jon became king – first and
foremost, of course, the fact that Kel is publicly training as a lady knight, as opposed to Alanna's disguise. There are many other changes
to the structure, the training processes, and I love all of them. I
love all of Kel's friends, especially Neal, Owen, and Merric. The
stuff with Joren and his gang is so exquisitely messed up. Lord
Wyldon is one of the most interesting and complex of all Tammy's
characters, and I love how much he comes to love Kel, and how much
she knows it, despite the fact that everyone else thinks he is unfair
to her. All their scenes together, where they have this unspoken
understanding, they just pretty much all make me cry. They are
wonderful. I also, of course – of course – am absolutely in love
with what happens to Kel as a squire, that Raoul picks her and that
we get a whole thick no<span style="font-family: inherit;">vel – <i style="color: #222222; line-height: 19px;">Squire</i><span style="color: #222222; line-height: 19px;"> is one of Tammy's longest novels, and one of my very favourites (apparently it's Tammy's favourite, of all her books, too) – of amazing Raoul antics, he's one of my utterly most beloved from the Lioness books and I love who he has become while remaining his gorgeous, jolly, cheery self. Kel's relationship with Raoul is one of my favourite things in all literature.</span> </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
I
love Cleon, I love Dom – Kel's fickleness with her crushes
frustrates me a little, and I feel really sad for Cleon about how
serious he is about her – I'd take him in a heartbeat - but I have
read Tammy's take on this, and I respect it and appreciate that not
every one of her girls ends up with a true-love ending. When Kel's
series ends, she's really only on the start of her path, and while
I'd love to see what ends up happening to her in the long run, I like
the ending of her series. Kel's character is probably my favourite
out of any of Tammy's Tortall girl-heroes – even though I grew up
with Alanna as my idol (just like Kel did,) Kel's sense of self, he<span style="font-family: inherit;">r
control, and her general personality is one I really admire and
respect. If I could be like any of those girls, <span style="color: #222222; line-height: 19px;">I would want, the most, to be like her. I can't wait for more books on her, which apparently are coming, from the point of view of her own first squire.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<b>9. Playing Beatie Bow</b></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Ruth Park</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<i>Playing Beatie Bow</i> is an Australian
children's or young adult book, a short novel about a 14-yr-old girl
called Abigail who lives in The Rocks, the oldest part of Sydney city
proper. She slips back through time to the same area in 1873, where
she is – seemingly by accident or coincidence – taken into the
care of the Bow family. It turns out that she was actually drawn
specifically, and ties into a Bow family prophecy in regards to
protecting their slightly psychic and healing Gift. I picked this up
again (I had read it several times when younger) because I was
thinking about it, and about the Rocks and the settlement of Sydney.
It gives a fairly detailed description of the Victorian working
classes and slums in Australia and I bet they make kids in school,
age around 12 learning Australian history, read it for that cultural
reason. It's well known and was recently reprinted in a line of
Australian classics along with <i>Seven Little Australians</i> and <i>Picnic at
Hanging Rock</i>. This book was written in the late 70s, published in
1980, when the author herself was in her 60s. I looked this up
because it sort of seems to suffer for that – the dialogue in the
book's present day, in 1980 or wherever Abigail starts out, is so
unrealistic – not just dated, but really, really unrealistic that a
teenager would have spoken like that. It has the kind of dialogue
that you only really ever see written, like really prosy? It's
especially noticeable when Abigail is speaking to Natalie, the
four-year-old girl who she babysits. I don't know if the writer had
ever met a four-year-old girl because no child, no matter how smart,
would say lines like this – or have thoughts like this – at age
four. They just wouldn't. </div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Oddly, the stuff in 1873 is more realistic,
though the family she stays with are immigrants from Orkney so a lot
of their speech is written as dialect. The book, of course, features
young love in the shape of Judah Bow, the son of the family who is
one of those lovely, good, golden characters who you can't help but
adore. Abigail comes into the past a cynical, sour thing, furious
about her parents getting back together after her father had left the
family years earlier, and comes back all softened and considerate and
changed, of course. And she finds Judah, again, in a way. As I
mentioned, the modern parts of this book are not the best-written
thing I've ever read, but I would always recommend this as a book to
someone who wants to know more about Sydney, because it is a really
great portrait of the Victorian times here and the Rocks is a really
interesting place.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<b>10. Gray</b></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Pete Wentz</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
I've been waiting for this book for a
long time – a very long time. Since Wentz first came onto my
horizon, in around 2005 – at this point he had already published
<i>The Boy With The Thorn In His Side</i>, I believe – it was known that
he was working on another book, at the time entitled <i>Rainy Day Kids</i>.
This project disappeared, and he even told fans that he didn't think
it would ever actually happen, but around a year ago – seven years
after I first got involved – he started hinting that this thing was
actually happening, posting a photo of a few draft pages. This
absolutely stopped my heart, because Wentz's writing has always been
what primarily drew me to him. I love the way he writes – in
lyrics, but in broken poetry and prose as well. I'd go as far as to
say that I was a fan of his before I was a full-on fan of the band's
– I followed his blogs regularly before I actually knew the band
that well, I was absolutely, absolutely in love with his words first.
I have followed all his blogs since that time – the public ones,
like on FOBRock, Buzznet or FBR, and the secret blogspots as well, of
course, like nohartandsole, stagecoaches, and some that came before,
though I now find I can't remember the earlier URLs. I think he even
still had LiveJournal, as well. One of my favourite things about
being a Fall Out Boy fan is hearing a new album and recognising
lyrics – phrases, metaphors and such – that are fragments of old
blogs, things I had read before and taken to heart, posted right as
Pete was feeling them and offered up to the small congregation of
those who always knew where to find him, the ones he left
“breadcrumbs” for. So even though we have the wonderful fact that
Fall Out Boy are now touring and recording again, I was already
satisfied, prior to that announcement, just that we would be getting
Pete's book.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Oddly enough, it wasn't quite what I
expected , but perhaps what I should have. <i>Gray</i> is billed as a novel,
and I knew it was going to be about a boy in a band on tour, and in a
tumultuous relationship. However, for some reason, I expected it to
be, well.. a proper novel, not something actually based on himself.
Maybe because he's moved on so much in his life, through marriage,
fatherhood, divorce, lowering his fame level, and becoming stable in
love and life. I honestly thought he wouldn't want to revisit all of
this, I thought he was writing something dramatic, yes, and based on
feelings, yes, but this thing is not a novel, it's practically a
memoir. Now, I don't claim to know the private goings-on as this man,
but he has always been open and public, if you knew where to keep
tabs on him, and the fact is that I recognise most of this story. I
expected him to put across his opinions and feelings – his
uncertain relationship with fame, things about mental illness and
medication, and his experiences with love, but into a genuinely
fictional story. <i>Gray</i> can only be called fiction in the loosest sense
of the word. The protagonist, himself, is never named – it's in the
first person – and the girl is never named, but if you know Wentz,
you know who she is. The story covers the band's progression, and his
love life, from prior of the recording of TTTYG to sometime after the
recording of FUCT. So many facts are the same – locations, events,
time periods, even the exact locations of the studios where both
those records were made. Even people's actual names – not many
characters are named but one who is, a crew member of Fall Out Boy's,
goes by a famous nickname in real life. That nickname is changed, but
his real given name is mentioned and is the same in the book as it is
in real life. Patrick's in the book, though is referred to as Martin
– as in Patrick Martin Stump. </div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
I also recognised, while reading,
just like when listening to a FOB album, many passages from old
blogs, many of his prosier writings, where he'd actually write in
paragraphs or tell stories about himself as opposed to his more
poetic, lyrical posts. As I said, this really surprised me, purely
because I just didn't think he'd ever want to go back to this place,
this headspace. Once I established that yes, we <i>are</i> going to this
place, I settled in feeling deeply attached and deeply unsettled,
because ten to one odds, most of the terribly harsh things I was
reading had really happened – and most of these things were things
our protagonist was doing, not things being done to him. We've always
known how dark and unstable he was, always, but there are some scenes
that were startling even to someone who has known just how fucked up
Pete was, who had read those old blog posts that he'd post in the
middle of the night and delete in the morning. Following the story
closely, I knew what was coming – his suicide attempt in February
2005 – and when that didn't happen, I soon realised where the
“novel” aspect of <i>Gray</i> comes in. Pete seems to have taken his own
story, been an honest as possible, and then given it a completely
different ending: ultimately more tragic, but maybe one he found
easier to cope with, maybe one he would have preferred. He doesn't
kill himself off, don't worry, but he certainly addresses that idea
that, honestly, if you haven't felt, you haven't had a bad break-up –
the idea that you'd rather someone you loved was dead, you'd rather
they left you without it being their choice, that it would be easier
to cope with than the pain you were putting one another through on a
daily basis.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<b>11. Struck By Lightning</b></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Chris Colfer</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
I haven't seen the film of <i>Struck By
Lightning</i> yet, and I will admit that I found it a little bit odd that
he was even putting this out as a novel – a bit sell-outy, even,
like he just wanted another book out at any cost. However, after
reading it, I established that he'd actually – as the film's
scriptwriter – taken the opportunity to go further into his
characters, perhaps inner thought processes that he was not able to
portray in the film. I don't know how much of that kind of thing made
it in, like if the main character, Carson, had a lot of inner
monologue, but if he didn't, the novel tie-in is, though quite
simplistic, definitely a really great, and deep, resource for someone
who enjoyed the film. The book also includes the entire literary
journal that Carson produces, the writings of all the students that
he blackmailed, and that was, I felt, an important experience,
insightful and sad, which is something that Carson realises himself.
Chris Colfer also, just like he did in <i>The Land Of Stories</i>, makes
sure to have his character repeat, in passing, his negative ideas
about fame, about pedestals of celebrity, and about the bad behaviour
of fans. In <i>TLOS</i>, it's just one character tiredly mentioning dealing
with the responsibility of the public eye, but in <i>SBL</i> it is slightly
less subtle, because Carson is opinionated and scathing about
everything. But yeah, Chris really isn't shy about his distaste for a
lot of celebrity and fan behaviour, and it feels like that, if he
can't outright tell everyone off, he uses his creations to put his
opinions across and teach or guide his fans about how he feels on the
subject. I was mostly unmoved, emotionally, by reading this book –
I enjoyed it, but quite absently – until quite near the end when
Carson discovered exactly what had happened to his Northwestern
application. I was so furious and disgusted, like I literally went
cold, I felt like a fist was gripping my heart, I was so angry on
Carson's behalf. It really took me by surprise, how much righteous
fury I felt, I think I said out-loud “wow, that is fucked up.”
Anyway, I'm keen to see the movie, and I'm interested to see how much
of the inner thoughts expressed made it into the film in some form.
</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<b>12. How To Understand Israel In 60 Days Or
Less</b></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Sarah Glidden</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
This is a graphic novel that I looked
up and purchased after I saw Amanda Palmer looking for
recommendations of books about Israel to read before she goes there
for an event later this year. Several people recommended this and I
had never heard of it. I've only read one or two novels set in Israel
before, and seen one film. I'm going there in May on what will be my
seventh or eighth visit overall, my first visit in nearly ten years,
and my first time alone, not with my dad and younger brother. For
those who don't know, my background is Israeli – my dad is from
there, and all of his family live there – his mother, sisters, and
my two older half-brothers, though both of them lived in Australia
for times as teenagers/young adults. The reason I live here, and that
he lives here, is because my mother was a control freak, but that is
a long story for another day. Israel has always been a fixture in my
life, since before I knew its position on the world map, the
conflict, etc. It was where I was taken on holidays, to see family,
and most of my memories are of the beach, riding bikes around my
grandmother's kibbutz, my dad showing me all the places he'd done
metalwork, flea markets, being bought new clothes, a particular type
of strawberry ice cream, apartments with tiled floors in every room,
and lots and lots of cats and dogs – everyone in Israel has a lot
of pets, and all I wanted as a child was animals all the time. On the
kibbutz, even, my dad's best friend from school ran a small zoo,
where she had a tame meerkat, and lemurs and spider monkeys. That's
my Israel. I knew nothing about the conflict, about Palestine, about
why people might be anti-Israel, or any of that.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
This graphic novel is the direct
opposite: it's the true story, or diary, of this girl Sarah, from
NYC, who is Jewish by birth but who claims to be progressive and
liberal, and apparently being progressive and liberal means being
anti-Israel? She decides to go to Israel to sort out her feelings on
the situation and see for herself – she goes on <i>taglit</i>, a
Birthright trip, which is a program set up by the Israeli government
which offers young Jewish adults the chance to visit Israel, for
free. Like, they pay everything – international flights,
accommodation, travel around in a guided tour. There are all
different styles of <i>taglit</i> trips – religious, non-religious, ones
from different countries or even niche trips – there's ones for
outdoors types where most of the spare time is doing extreme sports,
and ones for special needs groups... But the basic structure is a
10-day tour around Israel, explaining the history to young Jews. The
agenda, I'm pretty sure, is to encourage them to “make <i>aliyah</i>” -
to move to Israel and become a citizen, or at least to feel connected
to Israel and to defend it on a world scale. No matter the niche,
there are several spots that every tour visits – places like
Masada, the Old City in Jerusalem, the Golan Heights, the Sea of
Galilee, they learn the origin of the kibbutzes, they go to the Negev
Desert and learn a bit about the Bedouin tribes. They spend time with
young members of the army – army service is mandatory in Israel,
you go in between high school and uni. I have never had any desire to
do<i> taglit</i>, even though a free trip anywhere is appealing. The author,
Sarah, went on a non-religious <i>taglit</i> – I mean, Israel is a Jewish
state, so things are historically Jewish, but on a non-religious trip
they don't push any religious rules on the group. Sarah, the author,
is not shy in portraying herself as going in cynical and
argumentative, expecting the whole thing to be sheer propaganda, but
then goes through the process of an attitude adjustment, as she meets
new people. The group visits places that do seem to push propaganda –
the visitor's centre in the Golan Heights, for example, but Sarah is
surprised to have this issue addressed by the tour guide as soon as
the group gets back on the bus. Her group's guides, who are Israeli
Jews, don't shy away from the issues of the country and present a
more unbiased view of the situation and the conflict than she was
expecting, and even though Sarah has done as much objective research
as she can and is prepared to attack at every turn, she finds herself
questioning a lot of things. She admits that she came there,
originally, to validate herself that Israel was definitely the bad
guy, because they are the ones with the power, and that she could go
home without having qualms of cutting it out of her life forever. She
ends up conflicted about this.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
She finds some ingrained prejudice, but
also realises she has a fair bit of her own. It was a really good
read, and gave me a perspective on why people may actually be
anti-Israel. Sarah mentions at some point, that she's felt like that
if you're Jewish, you're meant to support Israel no matter what, and
she doesn't, so she feels conflicted. I think that I'm probably one
of those people, though more out of thoughtless loyalty than Zionism.
I look at Israel and I'm a child, saying “but what's wrong with
it?” This gave me some idea of why people have issues with the
creation of Israel, though it is hard for me to really commiserate.
My family were in concentration camps, they went to Israel to be
free. My father was born in a holding camp as they waited to
emigrate. What am I meant to do with this information? I have bias. I
was glad to see that Sarah didn't do a total 180, because even my dad
hates the creepy Zionist attitude and is against a lot of current
Israeli politics – he loved Rabin, naturally, may his lovely soul
rest in peace, and hates Netanyahu. He – and most Israelis I know –
also really dislike the Hasidic Jews, mainly for their hypocrisy –
they, in our experience, find every loophole to live by their laws
and feel superior about it. Like how cutting the hair is
forbidden, but it specifies something about shears, electric razors weren't invented in the Bible, so
they're totally fine to cut the hair with. So even Israelis have
varied feelings about aspects of Jewish culture. There's a pretty big
rift between secular and orthodox.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
The book does a good job of portraying
two sides to a lot of stories – like the security wall, disrupting
a lot of Arab settlements, but reducing the amount of terrorist
attacks from something like two per week, to about four a year. At
some point, Sarah hears from an Israeli how it is to turn on the
radio and know, if there's a happy song on, it's okay, there hasn't
been a bomb that day. I've lived that. I literally know what that's
like. I've been there when a bomb goes off – everyone in Tel Aviv
loses cell reception, did you know that? It's like when you go to a
music festival, and everyone is texting each other so the entire
place gets messed up signal? Imagine that, except it's everyone
checking to see that their friends aren't dead, weren't in that
nightclub or that bus. The same person who recounts this also gives
an honest opinion on most people's view of sending kids to the army –
that no one glorifies it, thinks it is normal or easy, or wants to
send their kids. I've been to a few of the places that Sarah goes to
– I've been to the Golan, I have a photo lying around somewhere of
us on the edge of a minefield. I've been to the Sea of Galilee. Tel
Aviv, of course. I've been to several kibbutzes – my dad grew up on
one, and I've seen the way they've changed over the past couple of
decades, the privatisation. I've been to the Dead Sea, but not to
Masada, and one part of Sarah's aggressive cynicism and determination
to root out “brainwashing” that actually really interested me was
her comparison of the original recorded story of what happened there
to the softened, heroic legend that commonly goes around.
</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Another part of the book I really liked
was where Sarah described the Israeli temperament, the blunt
criticism that is common – no soft-pedalling. She explains that the
upside of this is that any compliments given are genuine, and she
says “My gratitude towards this Israeli honesty did have its
limits, though to me, it's worth getting offended by someone if it
means I can trust their true opinion.” I was raised in an Israeli
family, and this trait is definitely something you may recognise in
me if you have experience dealing with me. I'm not saying that I
don't have some social problems regardless of culture, but if you're
sensitive, and find me too blunt and difficult, I do not suggest
making friends with Israelis. They can be harsh, sometimes in a way
that seems very mean – more malicious than I believe I've ever
sounded. But it's all just candid, unfiltered honesty, and they're
also very forward, honest and unfiltered in what they do like. It's
definitely something that's influenced me and been part of my
upbringing.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
I've been to the Old City in Jerusalem,
to the Wall, to the markets and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, but
I haven't been to Jerusalem city proper, or to Yad Vashem, the
Holocaust memorial. I want to go there – though want isn't the
right word, I need to go there, but I have never known how I will
handle it. I have trouble dealing with Holocaust imagery in general
art exhibitions and such – I mean, I'm sure it's no cakewalk for
anyone – but alternately, I've read quite a few books – people's
biographies from the Holocaust, or Jews escaping it, in the Second
World War. If you have ever received an email from my personal
account, you'll see the email signature is a quote, “what gives
light must endure burning,” which is a quote by Viktor Frankl.
Viktor Frankl is a bit of a hero of mine, he was a Jewish
psychiatrist who performed mental health care on other prisoners in
the camps with him. Before the war, he set up a program counselling
high school students free of charge, and this was credited with
vastly decreasing teen suicide rates in Vienna, where he practiced.
He wrote many things, including a short but brilliant book called
<i>Man's Search For Meaning</i>, which is about his time in the camps and
the development of the idea of discovering meaning in all existence,
and hence, a reason to keep living. If you are interested in a
general Holocaust memoir you could try <i>Night</i> by Elie Wiesel or <i>Elli</i>
by Livia Bitton-Jackson. Anyway, the point is, I'm an Ashkenazi Jew
and come from a family of Holocaust survivors. I have Holocaust
issues. Naturally. I could never, ever visit the actual camps, in
Germany, Poland, etc. I have been scared of facing Yad Vashem for
over ten years, I don't know how to handle it, who to go with. I
didn't know how I felt about going with family or with going alone.
What I'd most prefer is to go with a good friend who's more detached
than me, who is there to support me, but I don't think that's
possible. Naturally, no one is going to come to Israel with me just
to hold me upright. So we'll see how that goes.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
In May, I'm visiting Israel for the
first time since 2004, and I'm going alone. I'll be mainly staying
with my family, but I will be an adult tourist, not with my dad and
not being ferried around. This is my first chance to experience
Israel from my own perspective, and I've been curious and somewhat
anxious about it. I feel this inexplicable need to make the most of
it, to do and see the right things, to not miss out. I'm only going
for about two weeks. My younger brother, since graduating high
school, has spent large chunks of time there, like a couple of six
month stints. He has been absolutely impossible, I asked him what to
do and his answer is to go sit in cafes in Tel Aviv. Now, I'm not
exactly a “tourist attraction” type traveller, but sitting around
in cafes for six months? Reading this graphic novel was a good
experience for me. The author was not scared to portray her own flaws
and prejudices, as well as the ones she found in Israel, and was open
about expressing her positive experiences and changing point of view.
While I don't think I could ever truly empathise with her original
determined anti-Israel stance, her story did give me a better
perspective and understanding of why people may feel that way and
what some of the problems are in a way that actually makes sense. One
of Sarah's issues, before she went to Israel, was a lack of objective
material about “the situation,” and with writing <i>How To
Understand Israel In 60 Day Or Less</i>, she's done a pretty good job at
filling that gap in the market. I would definitely recommend this
graphic novel to anyone visiting Israel, or anyone who is curious or
uncertain about what things are like there.</div>
Nataliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04859638225493801704noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1958949944432225659.post-83002125040229761912013-02-12T22:07:00.001+11:002013-02-13T11:20:34.500+11:00Reviews - Films of January 2013Here are the movies I watched in January:<br />
<br />
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<b>People Like Us</b></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<b>(watched at home on 4th January
2013)</b></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
Watching this film cemented
something in me that I have been coming to terms with for a while - I
kind of like Los Angeles now. I used to HATE it, and in a lot of ways
I still do. A lot of it is ugly, dry, dusty. They don't look after
their old art deco buildings. The roads are all broken. The kind of
arid scenery they do have - palm trees, canyons and so on, I don't
find appealing. The culture is strange. It's extremely difficult to
get around it without driving, and I don't drive. The fact that
everyone else does drive means that there are not many places
designed for traversing by foot, nice places to walk around. The
public transport is very limited and kind of scary, and there's
barely anywhere that you can hail a cab. It is the opposite of New
York and if there is a word stronger than 'opposite,' apply that to
London. However, somehow, just by passing through over the last five
years, I have discovered pockets, things scattered around the city,
that I actually do enjoy, and since my most recent trip to the USA in
July, my mind keeps treacherously wandering to these places and
somehow, against my own will, I find myself wishing I was back in Los
Angeles. Sitting in Intelligentsia in Sunset Junction after
purchasing several bags of hand-made salted caramels at the Silver
Lake Cheese Store. Shopping at Amoeba, drinking at the Cat and
Fiddle, watching a Disney classic at El Capitan Theatre. The Los
Feliz Farmer's Market on Sundays, where we bought local honey from a
blind man and the best brownie in the history of creation from
another stall. The stretch of Vermont that counts as Los Feliz is
probably the most pleasant and civilised stretch of
street I've found in all of LA, except maybe down in
Santa Monica, which is a whole other type of civilisation, shamefully
taking 90 minutes to reach on public transport if you're coming from
Hollywood. Santa Monica Boulevard in West Hollywood, ending up in the
VIP loft at the Troubadour. The beautifully maintained entrance
hall at Union Station. Griffith Observatory, for the Tesla coil
demonstrations, the coyotes and the sunset. Paramount Studios,
not only because they make some of the best TV and movie, but for the
glory of Old Hollywood and how carefully that has been preserved.
Even the shopping complex of Hollywood and Highland, if you ignore
all the people in costumes - the mosaic artwork in the plaza telling
the anonymous stories of those who've made it in LA and the
outrageous lies or dodgy tricks the took to get there.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
Los Angeles is a true character in
this movie, in a way that reminds me of all the things I like about
it. It would be nice if I had Chris Pine to drive me around in a
shiny Mustang, though - I am sure I would start to love it
in that scenario. Chris Pine, Chris Pine, Chris Pine. Is there
anything he cannot do? If you do not like him, you are wrong. No
arguments. You are wrong. He is wildly, wildly talented. His range as
an actor is extraordinary, I have seen nearly every film he has made,
they're all different, every character is vastly different, from
“blind dude in a rom-com” to “neo-nazi punk in an action film”
and he just always manages to elevate whatever he is doing to some
next-level shit. If he is in a film, he will make the film good, even
when the film should be bad. Even when the film is “Just My Luck.”
He has a special quality about him, he is a masterful actor, and I am
in love with him. He looks like a frat-boy ken doll and has an
English degree from Berkeley. He is genius-levels smart and it shows
in his work, particularly with dialogue – nothing he ever says
sounds unnatural or like an affectation. He is amazing. He is
perfect. However, this film, People Like Us, is a film about family
relationships – about him as a brother who finds out about his
secret half-sister as an adult, and about him as a son, dealing with
his mother after his father dies. The iconic Michelle Pfieffer plays
his mom, and Elizabeth Banks, who is sharply, sharply intelligent,
plays the sister, and the result of putting Chris Pine up against
women who are just as smart and talented as him means that their
chemistry is off the charts – in a way that's a little
inappropriate for family relations. To be fair, this may have been
intentional – it's certainly part of the plot with the
sister-who-doesn't-know-she's-his-sister, but even at the end, after
the inevitable shitstorm, and he's begging her to let him be her
brother, it still feels intrinsically romantic in some way. Like,
it's just that intense, there's just that much chemistry, and you
don't generally see family members talk to each other like that. God,
he is good with Elizabeth Banks, they need to be in more things
together, because I have seen him act against a lot of people and I
have never seen him work better against someone – well, maybe
Quinto, but this was something very unique. The sister's son, Chris's
character's nephew, was also a fucking gift, one of the most talented
child actors I have ever seen, and his interactions with Chris were
priceless. The kid's name is Michael Hall D'Addario and I am going to
be keeping an eye on him because he was genuinely brilliant. Everyone
in this was brilliant, honestly, including the surprise appearance by
Mark Duplass, and the magical Olivia Wilde, but that trio of Chris,
Elizabeth and the child was something that I bet film-makers do
ritual sacrifices in the hopes of finding. All in all if you like
things that are good, you should see this movie. It had a smallish
budget, which it didn't even make back at the box office, but was
clearly a labour of love – it was made by Alex Kurtzman and Roberto
Orci, who co-produced Star Trek, and it was based on true events of
Kurtzman's actual life. It is quite an odd film, quite startling, but
it is genuinely very good, and really, honestly, nothing like any
other movie that I have seen in a long while. I couldn't define it.
It just is, and what it is is good.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<b>Anastasia</b></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<b>(watched at home on 4th January
2013)</b></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
This was, by no means, of course, the
first time I have watched this film. It is my favourite animated
movie, far surpassing anything by Disney, and I have felt that way
since I first saw it, which would have been at the cinema, sometime
between 6th and 7th grade. I remember knowing I wanted to see it and
asking a friend to come with me, and I remember the vague feelings of
shame, or like I had to “convince” her or talk her into coming to
see a cartoon. I can't remember if this was unfounded or not, like
whether she readily agreed or whether I actually did have to beg her,
but I remember feeling like I might need to because at that time, I
was under the impression that people our age did not go to see
cartoon movie without little brothers or sisters or whatever. This
was something that followed me through most of high school –
perhaps there were groups of people out there not giving a shit, but
I cannot remember, as a teenager, anyone having any fondness or
respect for “children's” things, like animated movie, Disney,
etc. I know that I was invested in some afternoon television animated
series, like The Animals of Farthing Wood and Madeline, at an age
that was deemed “too old” and, again, had to make excuses about
it. Aria and the Simpson were okay, but not stuff meant for actual
children. I secretly read and enjoyed books that were considered “too
young,” as well. Something I have noticed in the current day and
age, in fandangos, on tumble, etc, is the stigma of all of this has
melted away. This can only be a good thing. I have a lot of gripes
with tumble as a random medium and the way it has spread the idea of
certain subcultures to a much wider audience, some of whom really
don't know how to behave, but I will say this – I have to hand it
to the younger generation of kids who seem to no longer have any
shame about hanging on to childhood – adults reading YA books,
teenagers crying over Disney films, Avatar: The Last Airbender, and
Adventure Time. There seems to be a much more widely spread
acceptance of all forms of entertainment and art, that people aren't
ashamed or dismissive about appreciating things simply because of the
recommended age bracket. I bet Harry Potter had a lot to do with
that, and, as I said, the fact that “geek culture” and random
behaviour is becoming less of a subculture. When I was in early high
school, like, the four Goth kids in the corner would have had a
Livejournal, at my all girls school. Nowadays, for better or worse,
it seems like millions of kids have Tumblr, people make friends at
school via Team StarKid references, and all that. I don't know. Maybe
this was always happening, in some way, and I just knew the wrong
people. But it does seem like there is a higher percentage of young
geeks out there now, readers, lovers of culture, people who just like
good stuff, and if I was twelve nowadays I wouldn't have had any
shame in asking someone to come see Anastasia with me.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
So yes. It's my favourite animated
film, and on this re-watch, I think I figured out why. It's tonally
so different to Disney, which I already knew, of course – it's
really dark, really messed up, Disney would never tackle this kind of
thing, though Hunchback gets really dark, for them – but the
characterisations, as well. Now, we all love our Disney princesses,
and there are strong women among them, in their own ways – Belle,
Jasmine, Megara – but it isn't until you get to Mulan that you get
a hardcore BAMF. And Anya, in Anastasia, is an absolute BAMF. She
takes no shit, she is just so fucking cool, and she doesn't have to
run away and pretend to be a guy to do it. The way she sasses
Dimitri, constantly, is incredible, and the bit on the train where
he's expecting her to hand him an axe and she hands him the dynamite?
Also, in the end, she saves herself, and him, from Rasputin, which,
yes, sort of happens in some Disney, but this is better. It helps
that I am also obsessed with the lives of historical royalty,
particularly the children of revolutions, because it's always
super-sad and messed up. I have read countless, countless historical
novels/diaries about people like this – the Tudors, Jane Gray,
Marie Therese of France... so yes. Anastasia's story has always
fascinated me, and I love how tough she is in this movie, because she
was, she was a little terror. I've always been a little curious why
they messed with the ages – she was aged 8 in 1916, in the movie,
when in reality she would have been 14. They could have kept her as
14, and then had her meet Dimitri ten years later, at age 24? That's
not super old, is it? Though maybe they wanted the audience – of
children – to relate to a child, in the first scenes, and then when
she gets kicked out of the orphanage it's at the “legal adult”
age of 18. Whatever. I pretty much wept through the entire film on
this viewing, god, the bit in “Once Upon A December” where she
dreams of all the dancers and then her father cuts in and she bows to
him? Kill me now. Also, the bit on the stairs at the opera in Paris,
when Dimitri sees her in that dress. I want that damn dress. Someone
make me the dress. I still don't completely understand the ending –
why does she have to elope with Dimitri? Why, as a dethroned empress,
can she not just marry who she wants and still be publicly
acknowledged? She could totally grant him a title. But I just love
them, I love the way they talk to one another, I love the way their
faces are animated. The animation style has always been a big thing
for me, it's a touch more “real” than Disney's, they look like
real people, and Anya is just so gorgeous and feminine without being
totally delicate. Like, they somehow make her look slightly out of
place in her formal gowns, even though she looks amazing. Something
about the way they've done it makes you just feel that she's wearing
this as a costume, no matter how good it looks, as opposed to, say,
Belle, who is equally at home in the blue pinafore or the yellow ball
gown. This movie just feels, and has always felt, exceedingly natural
to me, and I love that about it.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
I also love the songs. So much. There
have been rumblings about a Broadway adaptation of this movie for a
long time and they actually did a reading/workshop of it in the
middle of last year. Aaron Tveit read as Dimitri and I swear to God
if he doesn't actually do the role if/when this thing makes it to
stage, I will build a fucking barricade outside his house because I
will just die if he doesn't do it after knowing he has been attached
in some way. He would do this role flawlessly. His range is amazing,
particularly as a screen actor, but as a Broadway romantic lead he
tends towards flamboyance in a way that – for his Fiyero, for
example, I didn't love – but that is perfect for Dimitri. Dimitri
is a fucking drama queen, he throws his hands up, he swings his hips
when he walks. I can literally see Aaron moving the way Dimitri is
animated in the movie, I can visualise it, and his face looks right,
his lovely nose and his voice is right. PLEASE give this to me,
world. If it comes down to it, I wouldn't mind Darren doing this, of
course, he would kill it, too (though they'd need a rather short Anya
to match him) but Aaron is the Dimitri of my dreams and I am not just
saying that because of Les Mis, but because I am a Broadway stan.
Groff could do it, but he doesn't the right mix of innocence to his
face – he either looks totally smarmy or totally sweet. Dimitri is
a con-man, but not properly- much like Frank Abagnale, the role he
originated in Catch Me If You Can, so there's that. Anyway. If Aaron
does this role, I will be fucking flying to see the initial run of
this when it is released (it will be Europe, maybe West End, but
tipped to actually premiere in St Petersburg) and as a matter of fact
I may still do that regardless of who is cast, because I want to see
this show so, so, so much. Oh my GOD, you know who could totally do
it? Jamie Parker.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
I'm a little afraid about the music –
they're allegedly only using five songs from the movie and adding 15
more – and I've stressed out over which movie songs they may cut. I
have assessed that they HAVE to keep Rumour In St Petersburg, Journey
To The Past, Once Upon A December, In The Dark Of The Night, and
Learn To Do It, but I cannot imagine them omitting At The Beginning,
even though it was a pop single/the credits song, because it was such
a big hit. Rumour In St Petersburg is one of the best establishing
numbers I have EVER seen in a musical, FYI, and the flawlessness that
it will be on stage will be worth the cost of my plane ticket to
wherever the show runs. I AM seeing this, when it happens, I will not
miss the initial run of this show.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
There is not a single person whom I
know of who I can picture playing Anya, but I am sure she is out
there somewhere.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<b>Les Miserables</b></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<b>(watched at cinema on 11th January
2013)</b></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Yes, again. I have a rip of the DVD
screener sent out for the awards-show circuit, so there are certain
bits that I have seen way too many times now, but I will be going a
couple more times to the cinema before it leaves, and I will do a
final assessment post about it then, because the feels, they keep on
coming. For this viewing, I went alone, I sat in the front row, and I
spilled popcorn all over the floor.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<b>Hitchcock</b></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<b>(watched at cinema on 29th January
2013)</b></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
I know nothing at all about Alfred
Hitchcock, but the trailer impressed me and basically, I love
biopics. I tend to get invested in people via their story, rather
than objectively by their work (see: The Libertines, the
Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, Oscar Wilde) – that is not to say,
whatsoever, that I don't like their work objectively, or that there
aren't many creators of whom I simply like the work, and don't know
about the person behind it, but if I know someone's story, and it
moves me, I get really, really, really invested in them, and the
point is, I don't think I have ever actually seen a Hitchcock film,
but it did not stop me wanting to see this movie, because it looked
interesting. It was interesting, however, the way that Hitchcock was
portrayed as rather sad and sympathetic confused me, as I had had the
distinct impression that he was quite awful. Apparently this was not
an unfounded impression, and that in this movie he was altogether too
nice. There was a HBO biopic of him released last year as well, which
apparently went too far the other way, I read an article saying
"...Hitchcock was depicted in his twin biopics as
either a charming but troubled genius or a monstrous sexual
obsessive..." neither of which are probably completely true.
Helen Mirren was, of course, awesome, as was Toni Colette who played
their assistant – Toni Colette is possibly my favourite actress
ever and she and Helen Mirren, as a team, gave this really cool
dynamic of power. I also loved ScarJo as Janet Leigh, and I am not
usually ScarJo's biggest fan. It was interesting to watch the
film-making process, like to see them editing reels by hand – god,
that job must have been so incredibly hard – and there is stuff I
still can't work out whether is true or not, like Hitchcock taking
the knife and doing the stabbing himself while filming “the shower
scene” of Psycho. I was also not 100% sold on the whole thing of
Hitchcock being followed around and haunted by Ed Gein – I do not
think that happened to him in real life, and I am not sure what it
added to the picture. The other thing I kept thinking about was the
Hitchcocks' massive and beautiful house and the fact that they seemed
to not have any staff – like that they just cooked for themselves
and ate in the eat-in kitchen of this giant mansion. Understandable
later in the film, when they start cutting expenses, but the entire
way through, they lived a very small life in a very big house and it
was just something I kept wondering about. Perhaps that was true and
was just a lifestyle thing. Anyway, I liked the film well enough, but
it had some serious oddness about it. Fun Fact: I saw this in the
exact same cinema that I saw the above showing of Les Mis, and I
knocked the popcorn over again. However, I was not as fail as the
woman sitting behind me, who was having the loudest and stupidest
reactions that I have ever heard from someone in a film audience. Oh
my god, she was hard to tolerate.</div>
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<b>Rise of the Guardians</b></div>
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<b>(watched at cinema on 30<sup>th</sup>
January 2013)</b></div>
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This was a really creative and
interesting movie that I had been keen to see due to the animation
and the voice actors. This film is based on a book series but set
around 200 years after those books take place, and I would be quite
interested in reading those books, the origin stories of each of the
Guardians. The lead character is the figure of Jack Frost, the spirit
of winter, and aside from being <a href="http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mefc6thK6X1re0i4io1_500.gif" target="_blank">crush-worthy gorgeous</a>, he is voiced
by the amazing Chris Pine, whom I waxed lyrical about earlier. The
concept of all the elemental spirits was quite unusual, particularly
their version of the Tooth Fairy – and the Sandman, of course, when
compared to <a href="http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ktfbmhj6gS1qzb91ho1_500.jpg" target="_blank">my dear Dream King</a> – but it was really nice
world-building. It was a cute, and sad story, with a pretty scary
villain. Jude Law scares me at the best of times, and his character
was definitely causing some childhood trauma to the rest of our
audience. Some parents can't gauge their kids' reactions very well,
because there were children there scream-sobbing the entire way
through. That was somewhat off-putting. But the movie had some
really, really funny bits – North's (Santa) stuff was all really,
really funny and he may be my new favourite Santa of all time, kudos
Alec Baldwin for that. If you have seen it, the bit where he was
marching along on the spot excitedly with the elves? I died. And I
loved the rest of them trying to do Tooth's job when all her fairies
were trapped. Jack, of course, was lovely and sassy and gorgeous and
sad, and I’m sure the film-makers thought they were putting in a
slight implication of him and Tooth getting together, but dude, I was
shipping the hell out of him and Hugh Jackman's Easter Bunny. There
was one bit, where Jack pretends to fall off the sleigh, and Bunny's
reaction, where I was like “dammmmn.” Yeah, it's a giant
anthropomorphic rabbit, so what? Tooth is mostly hummingbird. They're
elemental spirits, I'll ship who I want. Okay, wait, I've checked AO3
and people totally ship it. Good to know it's not just me being
weird, I haven't been this relieved at “not being the only freak
shipping this” since I discovered that no, it wasn't just me, the
major ship in Little Miss Sunshine IS Dwayne/Frank. Oh my god, that
movie is intense and if you do not vibe that ship there is something
wrong with you, honestly. Look at me, bringing cross-generational
incest into my review of a children's movie! Keeping it classy as
always. Anyway, I am not someone who goes into anything –
particularly not children's movie - wearing slash goggles – if I
vibe something I vibe it, I don't set out to start shipping people –
so the fact that I vibed it in this means that it must be legit.
Amirite? Probably not. Oh well.</div>
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<b>Coming up... February so far:</b></div>
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Eurotrip</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
The Silver Linings Playbook</div>
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Looking For Alibrandi</div>
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The Castle</div>
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<br /></div>
Nataliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04859638225493801704noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1958949944432225659.post-65273857593068048892013-01-06T23:35:00.001+11:002013-01-06T23:40:07.298+11:00Review: Pitch Perfect - ACAMAZING<b>Pitch Perfect</b><br />
<b>(watched on 2nd January 2013)</b><br />
<br />
I know that Pitch Perfect has been out for months in the USA, but it has only been in cinemas for a few weeks here. I knew it was going to be good, but oh my god, it was one of the funniest films I have seen in a long time. There were some flaws that stuck out to me - firstly, although Aubrey's regime for the Bellas is clearly crap, it would have been nice if they had kept the "we only do female songs" aspect because, you know, girls. Secondly, it felt a bit unfinished - like that maybe there were sub-plots that were meant to happen and that got cut, but they left the set-up in there to meander out? I'm thinking the stuff with Freddie Stroma, Aubrey's daddy issues, some of the Amy/Bumper stuff (the "Why do you have Bumper's number? " "Ummmmm... ahhh.. ummm.." and also some of the Chloe stuff - I've heard that the movie was meant to go to a Beca/Chloe place and that they changed it, and it felt like a LOT of set-up was done for that and then they just decided to literally change it half-way through filming. It felt like the reveal of "who's a lesbian" was meant to be this, like, unexpected twist as Chloe, but then it wasn't? I don't know, was that a thing?<br />
<br />
Regardless of that, though, I can't believe how involved I got in the film - like, just sheer delight at the musical numbers - there were a few where I literally wanted to (and did, quietly) applaud, or wanted to (and did, quietly) sing along. And the most unrestrained laughter I have had in a cinema in a very long time, I think everyone in my group ended up sliding out of their chair at some point. Rebel Wilson, my god, the whole audience was dying, most of us with the added aspect of actually understanding exactly how awful and un-PC her Australian references were (they were bad, you guys, reallllllly bad) and also having grown up watching her on Pizza, which was, side-note actually filmed on location in a store right down the road from my old house and school. But seriously, "sometimes I have the feeling I can do crystal meth, but then I think, mmm... better not." This, in context, absolutely murdered me, as did everything Elizabeth Banks said. And Anna Kendrick was great, she has always been great, I have loved her since I saw sing "Ladies Who Lunch" in her first movie, Camp, at the cinema. If you have not seen this film, run, don't walk, run and see it NOW, it is absolutely everything Glee wishes it could be about performing arts students, it is one of the best films of all time. She's just so natural and cool.<br />
<br />
Skylar Astin is a prince, and a brilliant Broadway baby, and I loved his character and would like to date him myself, though I would have been okay with Jesse and Beca being BFFs and the film actually going to a Beca/Chloe endgame, seeing as Beca complained about movies having predictable endings in a way that made me think there would be more of a twist. But dude, when she was singing "Don't You (Forget About Me)" at the end, and I realized a heartbeat before it happened that he was going to do the Judd Nelson fist-pump KILLER. Also, when this happened, my friend Francesca was crying, I mean like... glasses fallen off, full on weeping. I have never seen her cry more in my life, she assures me she has when watching things in private, but I have never seen her cry like that in front of people or watching a movie. And while I was not sobbing like her, I do understand the sentiment.<br />
<br />
But yeah. It was just all so damn cool, and engaging - both the initiation party scene and the riff-off were so totally awesome and vibed really realistically, in regards to those kind of communities and college parties. Also, if you look closely, one of the song topics on the riff-off spinning wheel was "songs ruined by Glee," which, lol forever. By the end, that final Trebles number, the Cee Lo/B.o.B one, I was like, finger-pointing and seat dancing and not even pretending not to sing along. Basically, plot-holes aside, this was a bloody brilliant music-related film, with some extremely fresh writing, and I want to watch it again pretty much right now.Nataliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04859638225493801704noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1958949944432225659.post-86509077253278246272013-01-05T00:42:00.002+11:002013-01-05T12:48:17.497+11:00Twenty Thirteen: a prize for the most awkward-sounding year.It's a new year (it's a new day, it's a new dawn, it's a new liiiiiife) and while I'm not really one for doing things purely because it's a certain date or a social norm, I am in the process of trying to change some aspects of my life in general, so I guess that I do have some "resolutions."<br />
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I hope to:</div>
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- do some sort of physical activity or exercise twice a week</div>
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- take a vitamin tablet every day</div>
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- do a water-as-my-only-beverage day once a week</div>
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- watch at least one movie per week</div>
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- read at least one book per week</div>
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- write/document every book or movie, even if it's just one paragraph</div>
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- re-read Les Mis<span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; font-weight: bold; line-height: 16px;">é</span>rables cover-to-cover, at least one chapter per day</div>
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- watch the entirety of Lost without looking up any spoilers</div>
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- start learning to drive</div>
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- complete scrapbooking/photo albums of 2009 - 2012 events and travel</div>
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- visit a country that I've never been to before, that isn't a Western culture, and survive my eating problems</div>
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- visit my family in Israel</div>
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- write and post a physical letter once a fortnight</div>
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- make one video blog per month</div>
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- write one personal blog post per week</div>
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- make a new friend in the "physical space"</div>
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- find a new activity or unique day out in my city once a month</div>
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<br /></div>
<div>
So yes. I need to get a new diary and calender in order to cross things off, like the vitamins, or make some sort of checklist. Christmas was ehhhh. The hype does not thrill me, and large social gatherings of family whom I either have to "explain myself" to or avoid make me quite anxious. I hope you all had a nice time. I was delighted to receive a StarKid fan-made shirt <a href="http://www.experimentaljetset.com/archive/t-shirtism.html" target="_blank">in this style</a> from my Hypable Secret Santa. I was also sent an epic Not Another Teen Wolf Podcast stenciled tote bag and a hand made Teen Wolf charm pin by my crafty friend Courtney (who is definitely the greatest addition to my heart that 2012 gave me.) My housemate Francesca gave me a Wills and Kate Christmas card, which is definitely a keeper, and the four of us in our house had a small Christmas party in which we went to the zoo, then came home and watched Elf and Love Actually.</div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">(A photo (of a photo) of people who love giraffes (who love giraffes.))</span></div>
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On New Year's Eve, we went out at midnight and watched the fireworks over the city from the hill at our train station. It wasn't the full show, it was about nine awkward locals standing around in silence on a traffic island together, but whatevs. We actually spent most of the evening at home having drinks and watching Big Fat Quiz of the Year 2012, which was amazing. <a href="http://youtu.be/yCpZStY70W8" target="_blank">Lobstromonous, even</a>. The best BFQOTY since maybe 2007, or even 2006, (the first one I saw, back when I was living in London) - fuck, have I fucking mentioned how much I fucking love British comedy and all these people? Because I do. A lot.</div>
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Since 2013 has existed, I have:</div>
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- had a panic attack over the fact that Tyler Hoechlin is just currently chilling somewhere in my city, like no big deal</div>
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- tediously spent around 16 hours editing a podcast</div>
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- watched Pitch Perfect (at the cinema) and People Like Us (at home) - reviews coming tomorrow</div>
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- finished the first book in Tamora Pierce's Immortals quartet, which I am re-reading for the 762nd time because my friend Mark is reading and <a href="http://markreads.net/reviews/" target="_blank">writing about them on his blog</a></div>
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- not been able to stop thinking about Les Mis in some format for approximately 20 of the 24 hours in any given day, I mean seriously we're talking about anything from comparing the various cast recordings and loving how the film has thrown back to the original 1985 London cast in regards to tone and delivery; to remembering more canon included that I forgot to <a href="http://controllist.blogspot.com/2012/12/review-les-miserables-to-love-another.html" target="_blank">mention here</a>, like Marius threatening to blow up the barricade; to dipping in and out of the book (mainly Les Amis, I won't front) and recalling what an actual lolrus Victor Hugo was, how <a href="http://www.online-literature.com/victor_hugo/les_miserables/177/" target="_blank">funny, snarky and distinct</a> he made these ten boys<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"> (<i>"</i><span style="background-color: #fffcf6; color: #333333;"><i>Here lies Blondeau, Blondeau the Nose, Blondeau Nasica, the ox of discipline, bos disciplinae, the bloodhound of the password, the angel of the roll-call, who was upright, square exact, rigid, honest, and hideous. God crossed him off as he crossed me off."</i>)</span> and how much more horridly tragic it is wh</span>en they all die so specifically; to mapping out a walk described in the book by comparing a map of 1830s Paris to current Google Maps and finding out what streets changed names; to wondering why no one has made some sort of graphic set incorporating the Frank Ocean verse of "No Church In The Wild" with stills from the film; to trawling Youtube for bootlegs and trying to work out how much book/stage-show/movie crossover there is (and deciding that the director and cast of this period of the West End run <a href="http://youtu.be/sJmp5yjZHtY" target="_blank">really have the right thing in mind</a> when it comes to Enjolras and Grantaire, damn; to theorizing how, because of above hilarity, snark and distinct characterisation, that if the BBC or HBO did a miniseries just about Les Amis, about their formation as well as Eponine and Marius's friendship, and the few years lead up to the June Rebellion - if viewers got to know these bromantical boys, with their nobility and their sass, that it would be complete and utter fandom fodder and then they'd have to open a support phone-line to deal with the results of the finale in which all the people you love are KILLED HORRIBLY AND SPECIFICALLY, not in one big shoot-out as per the musical. So yeah. That's mainly been my 2013.<br />
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Today, however, was a little different. Everyone in my house had a day off, so I took them to two different Eastern Suburbs swimming locations. I'm not a fan of the Eastern Suburbs, it's a very snobby and rich area, the kind of young people who choose to live there are not generally the kind of people who would mesh well with the kind of people who live in the Inner West, like me, and it's very difficult to get around as far as transportation goes. I mean, I even grew up on the North Shore, which is VERY upper middle class, and I went to a Catholic private school. Eastern Suburbs private schools make my school look like Waterloo Road. But the area has great swimming.<br />
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These aren't coastal beaches, like Bondi or whatever you might be familiar with. These are within Sydney Harbour, so much more sheltered. The first is a private beach at the bottom of the gardens belonging to a public historic house:<br />
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After a couple of hours here, we moved down the road a little bit to Murray Rose Pool in Double Bay, which was called Redleaf Pool when I was a kid. This is a huge harbor pool with facilities: showers, a cafe, and most importantly, things to jump off of.<br />
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<br />
There was much leaping to be done, off the pier fence boardwalk, and off the floating pontoons.<br />
<br />
Also, at this pool. a tiny little girl, around three years old, made her mother tell me she liked my swimsuit. I looked down and the kid had literally exactly the same swimsuit as me - a one piece in the same exact print - and I did not know whether to feel complimented or humiliated. Oh well.<br />
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Hmmmmm.Nataliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04859638225493801704noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1958949944432225659.post-1197771343779365042012-12-29T23:13:00.000+11:002012-12-30T20:31:37.526+11:00Review: Les Miserables - To Love Another Person Is To See The Face Of God<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
So, I saw <b>Les Misérables.</b> Twice,
actually. I saw it on 22nd December, at a midday advanced screening
session which may have literally been the first public screening in
Australia, and then again yesterday.</div>
<br />
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
I won't spend a huge amount of time
explaining what this show means to me. I will say that I have seen it
onstage about seven or eight times. This includes professional
productions (in Sydney, 1997 and in London, in 2006 and 2007) as well
as school and local productions. I have seen the 10th anniversary
concert DVD over twenty times, the 25th anniversary concert at the
cinema. I have read the book, and seen the non-musical films (the
2000 miniseries with John Malkovich is the best in my opinion) and I
have listened to the soundtrack literally hundreds of times (again,
10th anniversary cast = best cast.) I will say that I know every
single breath of the show as a musical, every word, that it is my favourite musical, that it changed my life, that it was probably what
drew me into being passionate about music as a medium in general, and
that it – extending to more musical theatre – would be the reason
why songs that are stories mean the most to me, in any genre. So
yeah. Les Mis is kind of a big deal for me. This movie coming out –
kind of a big deal for me. It had the potential to be the best or
worst thing that has ever happened to me, and, good news, I'm
currently leaning towards best!</div>
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<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
God knows how many times I'll end up
seeing it. When I worked at a video store, I used to put the 10th
anniversary concert DVD on every weekend shift. When my brother was
in the ensemble of a production of it at his school, I ended up going
three times – and spoiler alert, it wasn't because I was proud of
my brother or anything. Sorry, brother.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Anyway, I have to write about my feels.
The first part of this will be general, about different aspects of
the movie/musical, and then the end part – which is long –
explains my feelings on a certain aspect/certain characters in the
book-canon who are my favourite and my babies and the amazing way the
film has used the book as a resource to actually show some of that in
a way that the musical is usually too simplistic to be able to focus
on.</div>
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<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
So, first off, the leads:</div>
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<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<b>Hugh Jackman</b> as <b>Valjean</b> – was fine.
He was not bad at all, and I especially liked the<i> Soliloquy/What Have
I Done</i> as well as <i>Who Am I</i>. He managed the live-singing aspect really
well in these, the pacing and the emotion. His quiet breakdown
whisper on “I feel my shame inside me like a knife” will be
sticking me for a long time, as will his delivery of “yes Cosette,
forbid me now to die” in his death scene at the end. But Valjean just
never moves me that much anyway though? I know he's the lead and whatever, but
he just isn't the focus for me. I have heard Hugh Jackman talk about
this live-singing process and how it means that you're not limited to
the traditional song structure or whatever – that he had the
freedom to go from speaking to singing, from quiet to loud, power,
whispers, making acting choices with the singing delivery as opposed
to delivering a formally structured song performance, and he
definitely did well in this aspect.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
So did <b>Anne Hathaway</b>, who was flawless
perfection as <b>Fantine</b>, a character I usually ignore. She genuinely
used to bore me and I never cared for <i>I Dreamed A Dream</i>. But wow,
wow, wow. She was the best, just the best. That
live-singing-making-acting-choices thing? That aspect worked better
for her than for anyone else, she was the best at making the medium
work. She was just amazing, beautiful. I never thought much about her
as an actress, just never gave her that much thought, until I saw her
onstage in 2011, doing a reading, at an event hosted by Joseph Gordon-Levitt,
and she just blew me away then, as a stage performer. It's her
medium, I don't want to say she's <i>wasted</i> in film, exactly, but she
kind of is, and while this is obviously film as well, she was using
stage-acting qualities and this just made me want to see her on
Broadway. Of course, film has the added benefit of doing face
close-ups, and while this was something over-used in the movie (I
will get to gripes in a little bit) for her it worked, the horror of her
getting fucked by the sailor client, the single-shot take of<i> I
Dreamed A Dream</i>, and the close-ups of her delirious, happy, dying
craziness... yeah. She was something else. I was so reluctant about
Anne Hathaway for the longest time – since 2001, when I stamped my
foot and said “she is NOT my Princess Mia!” and proceeded to not
forgive her, for ten years. I can safely say – Anne, you are more
than forgiven. I'm sorry.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
Apologies are also in order for Mr
<b>Russell Crowe</b>. When this casting was announced I was just absolutely
like “Nope. No. Terrible.” I don't know why I was so
objectionable about it – I think it was that I knew his singing
voice isn't the traditional booming powerful voice that <b>Javert</b>
generally has, and also that he isn't harsh enough, that he didn't
seem stern and cold and brutish enough. Yeah, I eat my hat. Because
he wasn't those things – he wasn't – but he was something better.
He gave Javert this real nobility – not the harsh righteousness
that you automatically want to oppose, but this vulnerability that
was almost close to Asperger's or OCD. He reminded me, uncontrollably
in some ways, of Sheldon Cooper, the way he played Javert's
single-mindedness. I found myself finding him sweet, even, like in
the scene where he comes to report to Monsieur Madeleine – Valjean,
after he's rebuilt his life, saying he's there to serve – it was
almost like an eager puppy, and again later when he comes to admit
that he thinks he's done wrong by Madeleine and asks Madeleine to press
charges against him because he feels that he deserves it. He isn't a
hypocrite, and he sees the world in black and white. His singing
wasn't that strong, honestly, and it struck me the first time I saw
it, but by the second, I didn't mind it – and the lack of boom and
power suited his version of Javert anyway. I cannot believe what
brilliant character work he did, it seems I was forgetting that Crowe
has two Best Actor Oscars. I was intrigued even by his movements, his
weird precision, his pacing the edge of the roof in <i>Stars</i>, a metaphor
for his faith, and his movements fighting Valjean in <i>The
Confrontation</i>. <i>The Confrontation</i> in general was staged perfectly and
was one of the best moments of the film. And then, when he joined the
revolutionaries undercover, you could see it, you could see him
starting to have his values shaken, to start to see the grey areas,
even before Valjean frees him. The most emotional part of the movie –
the part where I broke down and sobbed, I mean really sobbed,
couldn't stop, was a wordless moment too detailed to be in the
musical and, to my recollection, wasn't in the book either, and it's
when Javert is observing all the bodies laid out, of the
revolutionaries, and he passes over Gavroche, crouches down, and pins
his own valour medal on him. I fucking lost my shit. It was the most
beautiful thing they could have done, I wasn't expecting it, and I
have tears dripping again just writing this. So yeah. I loved his
Javert, even if he isn't the greatest Broadway-style singer I have
ever witnessed.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<b><br /></b>
<b>The Thénardiers</b> – were well cast - I
usually greatly dislike <b>Helena Bonham Carter</b>, but she was great for
this, she really was - and performed well, but it was all done a bit
too lightly. Bits of<i> Master Of The House</i> were TOO much comic relief
in a way that just didn't suit the rest of the movie's tone. In the
musical, <i>Lovely Ladies</i> can also be a funny-ish number, but here it
wasn't, it was sinister, so <i>Master Of The House </i>should have been a
little more sinister as well. Most of it was okay, but some of it was
just a bit too stupid, and that goes for their appearance at the
wedding as well.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<b><br /></b>
<b>Cosette</b> – both <b>Isabelle Allen</b> (baby Cosette) and <b>Amanda Seyfried</b> made her a lot
less simpering and a lot stronger than how she's done in the musical.
Amanda especially – I mean she wasn't exactly a tough rebellious
woman, but she had enough independence, enough strength of character,
pushed Valjean enough, for me actually to be offended on her behalf
when Valjean and Marius are keeping things from her “for her sake.” Usually I just find her wishy-washy and annoying and
getting in the way of one of the saddest and most beautiful OTPs
ever, but I hated Amanda's Cosette much less than any other Cosette.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<b><br /></b>
<b>Marius</b> – <b>Eddie Redmayne</b> gets ALL THE
AWARDS. God. He'd never sung before doing this film? He was so, so
good. He has something, that kid, he is always so interesting to
watch, and again, Marius is usually kind of a dumb drip. He was way
more enigmatic than most Mariuses I can remember seeing, and I can't
believe how good he sounded – not flawless, not the most
traditional tone, but strong and interesting and just, yeah, he was
great. I know that all Les Amis de l'ABC, including him, sat with the
director, Tom Hooper, and drew a lot from the book-canon for all
their characters, and they crafted a wonderful Marius. I'm glad he
got the role and he truly deserved it, even though people were
screaming for it to go to a Broadway veteran. Apparently he's been
obsessed with the show since he was seven years old and it
legitimately inspired him to start acting in general, and yes, good,
yes.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<b><br /></b>
<b>Samantha Barks </b>as <b>Eponine</b> – oh,
Eponine, my dearest, dearest girl- was perfect and criminally
underused. For some reason – I'm going to go out on a limb and say
'they were on crack,' they cut several of her best dialogue-y scenes –
her first long back and forth with Marius, that really paints the
picture of their relationship – they kept, like, one line; and also
the awkward introduction, by Marius, of her and Cosette as adults..
but what she did have was perfect. <i>On My Own </i>wasn't the traditional ingénue belting it out to the back of the room, it was her crying
into her knees, and <i>A Little Fall Of Rain</i> – oh, man. That's the
song that literally took me years not to cry in even on the cast
recording. I will always cry every time I see it staged, but I used
to cry every time I even heard it. It was beautiful, and the film
included the book-canon aspect of her directing the soldier's gun to
shoot her, rather than her just getting picked off while climbing to
Marius. Ughhh, that poor girl. I swear to God, if anyone has ever
come out of Les Mis actually shipping Cosette/Marius instead of
wishing that Cosette would go away and Marius realise how amazing
Eponine is, you are doing it wrong.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<b><br /></b>
<b>Daniel Huttlestone</b> as <b>Gavroche</b> was
another flawless part of the film – sometimes Gavroche can be a bit
of a snotty, arrogant brat, too sassy, too Artful Dodger, and not, to
me, all that likable. This version was perfectly balanced and
adorable and you loved him and Les Amis loved him and he died
horribly and even Javert loved him. I desperately want to get a
TARDIS, go and get Javert and Gavroche, and have Javert run off with
him and raise him in a caravan, like Bruce Willis and the kid in
Moonrise Kingdom.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<b><br /></b>
<b>Aaron Tveit</b> as <b>Enjolras</b> was a prince,
he was poetry in motion, the rest of Les Amis were marvellous,
especially <b>George Blagden</b> as <b>Grantaire</b> and <b>Fra Fee</b> as <b>Courfeyrac</b>, and
you could tell they were truly feeling it in all their amazing group
numbers, and there's about 3000 words to follow of my Barricade Boys
feelings, so strap yourself in.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
Before we get there, though: some
gripes and some loving mentions:</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<br />
There were a couple of aspects of the film I didn't love: there
were too many close-up shots. Yes, I get that they wanted to show off
their live singing and do single takes and make a big deal of that
but you didn't need to do it for the entirety of every solo. Some
performances suffered from it. It worked for Valjean's <i>Soliloquy</i> <i>I
Dreamed A Dream</i>, and <i>On My Own</i> – even <i>On My Own</i> didn't need it.
Everything else could have been less close-up-in-your-face. <i>Empty
Chairs at Empty Tables</i>, especially – not that Mr Redmayne couldn't
sing it, not that he needed the takes, but the performance would have
been better and more moving if we'd panned around, if we'd had
flashbacks of the rest of his friends, all that kind of thing. I
can't believe I'm saying this, but more montages were needed? This
could be said for a few of the songs that just lingered on the
singer's face. The movie had such a huge and grand scope, yet they
spent so much time <i>right up here in your face</i> – often with quite
strange framing, due to the fact that they may have got a perfect
singing take from a less than perfect camera angles. So yeah, the
group numbers really stood out for me as stronger.
<br />
<br />
<br />
They also did this thing, a couple of times, which I did not
understand at all, which is where they would change a bit of random
wording from the original for no purpose that I could tell? Like, the
musical came first, I am not sure why they changed words to fit the
film, surely they should be building the film around the words? One
random one that stands out was Bamatabois, “Javert, would you
believe it, I was crossing from the park...” and in the film
“Javert, would you believe it, I was lost here in the dark..”
like.. why couldn't he be crossing from the park? They could have put
a park there? Another was just a word change of the Bishop, saying “I
have saved your soul for God” instead of “bought your soul for
God” - the imagery of saved rather than bought paints kind of a
different picture to me, because for the whole musical Valjean
considers the entire thing a sort of bargain.<br />
<br />
<br />
Also, the new song, <i>Suddenly</i>. Look, it was actually sweet, and I
know they want the Best Song Oscar and to be eligible for that you
need an actual original song, but like... I'd have rather have gotten
more Eponine/Marius flirting, or Grantaire's verse of <i>Drink With Me</i>,
or the full <i>Attack On Rue Plumet</i>. I know they filmed EVERYTHING, and
Tom Hooper's original cut was nearly 5 hours long, and there is just
stuff I would have rather seen than that new song which I have zero
investment in.<br />
<br />
<br />
This length issue/cutting issue also leads to my final problem
with the movie, which is that some cuts were made in odd places –
cuts that messed with the flow of a song, or didn't complete a rhyme.
It was quite jarring, as was a thing they did a few times in which
they would change the order of dialogue in a song, which again messed
with the rhyme and flow – for example “come on ladies, settle
down, I run a business of repute, I am the mayor of this town” was
changed to “come on ladies, settle down, I am the mayor of this
town, I run a business of repute..” and the transition was really
awkward? And less than 5 minutes later they had it again, with the
<i>Runaway Cart</i> and the line goes, from Javert as he speculates on the
Mayor reminding him of Valjean: "forgive me sir, I would not dare.." and Valjean saying “Say what you must, don't leave it there!” and
in the musical these lines are switched? Like Valjean says his first?
I get why they did it – because in the song, Javert then goes to
sing about his explanation of the criminal Valjean, and they don't do
that immediately in the movie – Javert comes to him later. So they
can't end the scene with Valjean saying “say what you must, don't
leave it there” and then Javert just... not saying anything.. but
the flow of it doesn't work well.<br />
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
However, all these issues were things
that jolted me on my first viewing, because I had all the exact
wording of the musical in my head. On my second watch, it was very
easy to just go with it, gloss over it, and get used to it, and I can
only imagine these issues will go away even more each time I see the
film again and get to know it as its own permanent entity.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
Um, <b>Colm Wilkinson</b> (the original
Valjean) cameo as the <b>Bishop</b>, every hardcore Les Mis fan would have
been crying at that; scenes/staging that I adored: <i>At The End Of The
Day</i> was incredible, the women working with Fantine, the foreman, and
the fact that Valjean sighted Javert and that's why he didn't stick
around to help – I always raise my eyebrow a bit, in the stage
show, where he comes in and is like “what's all this? You fix it,”
for pretty much no reason. I liked the re-structuring of some of the
songs, like changing the order of <i>I Dreamed A Dream/Lovely Ladies/The
Runaway Cart</i> – the new structure worked PERFECTLY for the
storytelling medium of film. At first I was a bit taken aback by the
change of <i>Do You Hear The People Sing</i> – usually they go straight
into it from <i>Red and Black</i>, but in the film they do <i>Red and Black</i>,
they have all of Marius and Cosette's meeting (<i>In My Life/Heart Full
Of Love</i>), <i>On My Own</i>, and <i>One Day More</i> before doing <i>Do You Hear The
People Sing</i>, and I am sat there going 'where is it?' But they do it the next morning, at General Lamarque's funeral parade, as an
initial movement of rebellion and protest, and the effect of it is
absolutely chilling and by that moment, I knew, I knew that this
whole thing could have disappointed a lot of people, it could have
all gone wrong, but it wasn't going to, that this was right, this was
the best, because there is literally no way to top how they did that
scene. The finale of Valjean watching the reprise of <i>Do You Hear The
People Sing</i> on the gigantic barricade, with all the honoured dead, is
also so grand and beautiful that I have never envied actors more
than I envy the people who got to be a part of it.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
I also love how much book canon they
were able to use. LOVE it. I have already mentioned a few moments,
but others that stand out include the removal of Fantine's teeth, the
fact it was Christmas Eve when Valjean fetches Cosette as a child,
Fauchelevant taking in Valjean and Cosette at the convent, the
elephant statue Gavroche lives inside, and a lot of details about the
Cafe Musain and the goings on of that time, including actual details
of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/June_Rebellion" target="_blank">June Rebellion</a>, such as the funeral parade. There is so much
more, I haven't read the book since high school and am in the process
of going through it again now, but those are just a few I remember.
</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1958949944432225659" name="line_25"></a>But for me,
because I'm me – the most important book-canon aspect and the most
interesting relationship in the story is that between Enjolras and
Grantaire. If you've seen the musical, you know who Grantaire is,
even if you don't know you know – he's the one always shown to be
drinking and messing about. He's the one that teases Marius about
falling in love with Cosette and encourages him, in order to goad
Enjolras, and he's the one with the incredibly cynical second verse
in <i>Drink With Me</i>: ("will the world remember you when you fall?/could
it be your death means nothing at all?/is your life just one more
lie?") In the book, however, it is so much more detailed: Grantaire is
a sceptic and a cynic, a hedonist and an alcoholic, he's brilliant,
witty, funny, he doesn't believe in the revolution, in their common
cause, he isn't honourable, he thinks Les Amis de l'ABC are wasting their
time. However, he stays with them, he keeps coming to meetings –
even when he interrupts said meetings with poetic and distracting
monologues; he keeps asking for tasks to be assigned to him, even
when he fucks up and does not fulfil them. He canonically calls
himself R, because Grantaire sounds like <i>grande r</i> – capital R in
French, and so does Les Mis fandom, and so shall I. So why is R still
hanging around the Cafe Musain, when all he does is get drunk, drop
truth-bombs, and mock people? Enjolras. R is pretty much in love with
Enjolras – not because he believes in Enjolras's ideas, but because
he believes in the boy himself.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
<br />
From the text:<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<i>Still, this sceptic had fanaticism.
This fanaticism was not for an idea, nor a dogma, nor an art, nor a
science; it was for a man: Enjolras. Grantaire admired, loved, and
venerated Enjolras. To whom did this anarchical doubter ally himself
in this phalanx of absolute minds? To the most absolute. In what way
did Enjolras subjugate him? By ideas? No. Through character. A
phenomenon often seen. A sceptic adhering to a believer is as simple
as the law of complementary colours: that which we lack attracts us.
Nobody loves the light like a blind man. The dwarf adores the drum
major. The toad is always looking up at the sky. Why? To see the bird
fly. Grantaire, crawling with doubt, loved to see faith soaring in
Enjolras. He needed Enjolras. Without understanding it clearly, and
without trying to explain it to himself, that chaste, healthy, firm,
direct, hard, honest nature charmed him.
</i></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<i>Instinctively, he admired his opposite.
His soft, wavering, disjointed, diseased, deformed ideas hitched onto
Enjolras as a backbone. His moral spine leaned on that firmness.
Beside Enjolras Grantaire became somebody again. On his own, he was
actually composed of two apparently incompatible elements. He was
ironic and cordial. His indifference was loving. His mind dispensed
with belief, yet his heart could not dispense with friendship. A
thorough contradiction; for an affection is a conviction. This was
his nature. There are men who seem born to be the opposite, the
reverse, the counterpart. They are Pollux, Patroclus, Nisus,
Eudamidas, Ephestion, Pechméja. The live only on condition of
leaning on another; their names are sequels, only written preceded by
the conjunction "and"; their existence is not their own; it
is the other side of a destiny not their own. Grantaire was one of
these men. He was the reverse of Enjolras.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>We might almost say
that affinities begin with the letters of the alphabet. In the
series O and P are inseparable. You can, as you
choose, pronounce O and P, or Orestes and
Pylades.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Grantaire, a true satellite of Enjolras, lived in
this circle of young people; he existed within it; he took pleasure
only in it; he followed them everywhere. His delight was to see these
forms coming and going in the haze of wine. He was tolerated for his
good humour.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Enjolras, being a believer, disdained this
sceptic, and being sober, scorned this drunkard. He granted him a bit
of haughty pity. Grantaire was an unaccepted Pylades. Always treated
rudely by Enjolras, harshly repelled, rejected, yet returning, he
said of Enjolras, "What a fine statue!"
</i></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
------<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
So yeah. R is obsessed with Enjolras to
the point where Victor Hugo makes all these allegories to the Ancient Greek
homoerotic figures – Enjolras's introductory pages compare E
himself to Antinous, Aristogeiton and later in the text, to Apollo –
and here, E and R as a pair are painted as Achilles and Patrocles,
Alexander and Hephaestion, Euryalus and Nisus, and of course, Orestes
and Pylades, the last of which becomes very important later. The
thing is, this is a “two-halves-of-the-same-whole” allusion, not
a “close friends” allusion because they are NOT friends. If we
were talking about the best BROTP in nineteenth century Paris, we'd
be looking at Enjolras and Combeferre, who very much calms E down -
(<i>"The Revolution was more adapted for breathing with Combeferre than
with Enjolras. Enjolras expressed its divine right, and Combeferre
its natural right. The first attached himself to Robespierre; the
second confined himself to Condorcet. Combeferre lived the life of
all the rest of the world more than did Enjolras. If it had been
granted to these two young men to attain to history, the one would
have been the just, the other the wise man."</i>)
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Grantaire is barely even tolerated by
Enjolras, but he loves that E believes in himself, even when R lives
to tease him about that very fact (though not really, remember,<i> an
affection is a conviction.</i>) He loves that E believes in people being
good, being righteous, because he thinks that the human condition
sucks so badly, and he can't make himself <i>not </i>believe it, but he
wants <i>so much</i> to be wrong. He wants Enjolras to be right. They are
tied together, by love, fate, whatever – something different to
logical convictions. Alexander and Hephaestion, Orestes and Pylades,
Enjolras and Grantaire, but Enjolras won't accept the connection. But
R keeps hanging around, just to be with E. Enjolras, whose character
is made pretty obvious even in the simplified musical, “was a
charming young man, who was capable of being terrible.” He's very
noble, he has incredible convictions, he is the spark. Without him,
the boys would just be sitting around saying “wouldn't things be
better if...” and many of them were really just kids playing adult
games right up until they died.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
But Enjolras was the real deal, harsh,
true to his convictions, and, in a way, totally naïve. <i>("He chastely
dropped his eyes before everything which was not the Republic. He was
the marble lover of liberty. His speech was harshly inspired, and had
the thrill of a hymn. He was subject to unexpected outbursts of
soul."</i>) I mean the way he reacts to Marius falling in love with
Cosette is basically the same as, on Teen Wolf, the way Derek reacts
every time Scott is distracted by or prioritises Allison, he's like
“I don't have time for your teenage shit, Marius, ugh, I'm so above
this” but it's actually because he's so naïve and repressed that
doesn't know how to open himself up at all. There is a bit (in a
chapter called “Wherein Will Appear the Name of Enjolras'
Mistress”) where the other guys – not even Grantaire, just some
of the boys - are teasing about Enjolras and discussing how he could
possibly be so passionate – the kind of crazed bravery usually
inspired by love of a woman.<i> “He is not in love, and yet he manages
to be intrepid. It is a thing unheard of that a man should be as cold
as ice and as bold as fire."</i> E overhears this and mutters
“Patria.” - homeland. So yeah, Enjolras is in love with France.
He's <i>that</i> guy.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
ANYWAY, the volumes of the book
focusing on Les Amis de l'ABC feature quite a few scenes of Grantaire's
dedication to Enjolras, and trying to win his approval. There's a
bit, where E is trying to send people out to different neighbourhoods
to spread the gospel of Enjolras or whatever, and because Marius is
off chasing Cosette, E finds himself a man short. R is like “hey,
what about me? I can do it!” and E is like “what the fuck, YOU?
Er, no.” Let me post you the dialogue here:</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
<br /></div>
"I have to have somebody for the Barriere du Maine.
There’s nobody left."<br />
<br />
"Me," said Grantaire,
"I’m here."<br />
<br />
"You?"<br />
<br />
"Me."<br />
<br />
"You
to indoctrinate republicans! You, to warm up, in the name of
principles, hearts that have grown cold!"<br />
<br />
"Why
not?"<br />
<br />
"Can you be good for something?"<br />
<br />
"I have a vague ambition in that direction," said
Grantaire.<br />
<br />
"You don't believe in anything."<br />
<br />
"I
believe in you."<br />
<br />
"Grantaire, do you want to do me a favour?"<br />
<br />
"Anything. Polish your boots."<br />
<br />
"Well,
don't meddle in our affairs. Sleep off your absinthe."<br />
<br />
"You're
an ingrate, Enjolras."<br />
<br />
"You'd be a fine man to go to
the Barriere du Maine! You'd be capable of that!"<br />
<br />
"I'm
capable of going down to the Rue des Grés, of crossing the Place
Saint-Michel, of striking off through the Rue Monsieur-le-Prince, of
taking the Rue de Vaugirard, of passing the Carmelites, of turning
into the Rue d'Assas, of reaching the Rue du Cherch-Midi, of leaving
behind me the War Ministry, of hurrying through the Rue des
Vieilles-Tuileries, of striding through the Boulevard, of crossing
the Chaussée de Maine, of crossing over the Barriere, and of
entering Richefeu's. I am capable of that. My shoes are capable of
it."<br />
<br />
"Do you know anything about those comrades at
Richefeu's?"<br />
<br />
"Not much. We're on good terms,
though."<br />
<br />
"What will you say to them?"<br />
<br />
"I'll
talk about Robespierre, by God. About Danton, about
principles."<br />
<br />
"You!"<br />
<br />
"Me! You don't
do me justice. When I get going, I'm formidable. I've read Prudhomme,
I know the Contrat Social, I know my constitution of the year Two by
heart. 'The Liberty of one citizen ends where the Liberty of another
citizen begins.' Do you take me for a brute? I have an old assignat
in my drawer. The Rights of Man, the sovereignty of the people, ye
gods! I'm even a bit of a Hébertists. I can repeat, for six hours at
a time, watch in hand, superb things."<br />
<br />
"Be serious,"
said Enjolras.<br />
<br />
"I'm fierce," answered
Grantaire.<br />
<br />
Enjolras thought for a few seconds and gestured
like a man making up his mind.<br />
<br />
"Grantaire," he said
gravely. "I agree to try you. You'll go to the Barriere du
Maine."<br />
<br />
Grantaire lived in a furnished room quite near
the Café Musain. He went out and came back in five minutes. He had
gone home to put on a Robespierre waistcoat.<br />
<br />
"Red,"
he said as he came in, looking straight at Enjolras.<br />
<br />
Then,
with the flat of his huge hand, he smoothed the two scarlet points of
his waistcoat over his breast.<br />
<br />
And, going up to Enjolras, he
whispered in his ear, "Don't worry."<br />
<br />
He jammed down
his hat resolutely and went out.
<br />
<br />
-----<br />
<br />
So yeah. You get the picture. R will do anything for E if E wants
him to do it – especially if it's E that asks him specifically, not
just a general part of going along with everyone, but he still is
a major sass-monster right to E's face, and it is all very amazing and tragic. Later, E
goes to check on R's progress and finds him at du Maine, playing
fucking dominoes with the people he'd been sent to convert. What's
weird is we don't get a reaction to this – the chapter ends with E
just watching the scene play out and the dialogue of the game, no
chastising of R, no resolution, resignation or confrontation.
(Because of this, I like to imagine that R was winning them over in
his own way, by drinking and playing with them and slipping things
into conversation, and not that he simply got distracted and failed.
But it is R, so unfortunately he probably did just fail.)
<br />
<br />
<br />
On the day of the revolution, Grantaire is having some breakfast
wine with some of the others and they get a messenger from E. R is a
sulky baby because E sent the message directly to one of the others
and not to him. (<i>"Enjolras disdains me," he muttered.
"Enjolras said: 'Joly is ill, Grantaire is drunk.' It was to
Bossuet that he sent Navet. If he had come for me, I would have
followed him. So much the worse for Enjolras! I won't go to his
funeral."</i> HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH no.) So basically he switches from
wine to liquor and gets shitfaced while the others prepare to fight.
Because the boys are basically still idiots, they end up building the
barricade outside their wineshop, and when Enjolras arrives there, he
tries to send Grantaire away, to sleep off his booze somewhere else,
because, in E's opinion, R is “dishonouring” the barricade. E
telling him off totally makes R shut down, stop fighting and sassing him,
and he quietly begs to be allowed to stay there with E, to just sleep
in the corner.<br />
<br />
-----<br />
<br />
<i>Grantaire, keeping his tender, troubled eyes fixed on him
answered, "Let me sleep here -- until I die here."</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Enjolras
stared at him disdainfully.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>"Grantaire, you're incapable
of belief, of thought, of will, of life, and of death."</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Grantaire
replied gravely, "You'll see. You'll see."
</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>-----</i><br />
<br />
R then passes the fuck out and sleeps through. The. Entire. Thing.
He sleeps through the whole final day of the battle, through the
barricades all falling. The National Guard chase off the students,
the revolutionaries, and they box them up like rats in a trap inside
the cafe, shooting at them through floors, which opens the chapter
titled <a href="http://www.online-literature.com/victor_hugo/les_miserables/321/" target="_blank">Orestes Fasting and Pylades Drunk</a> – I told you that
would be important! The last one left alive is Enjolras, they know
he's the leader, and they corner him, defenceless and beautiful, in
an upstairs room. He throws aside his broken gun and offers himself
up to their guns honourably and his nobility kind of chills everyone
into silence, to the point where they don't want to do it. They lower
their guns a bunch of times. They ask him if he wants his eyes
bandaged, he says no. They ask him if he's <i>sure </i>it was him who killed
their artillery sergeant, he says yes.<i> “Perhaps it was of him that
the witness spoke who said afterward before the court-martial, "Three
was one insurgent whom I heard called Apollo." A National Guard
who was aiming at Enjolras dropped his weapon, saying, "It is as
though I'm about to shoot a flower."</i><br />
<br />
<br />
When the room goes quiet, as the Guards are holding back from
shooting E, R wakes up.<i> “Noise does not rouse a drunken man;
silence awakens him. The fall of everything around him only augmented
Grantaire's prostration; the crumbling of all things was his lullaby.
The sort of halt which the tumult underwent in the presence of
Enjolras was a shock to this heavy slumber. It had the effect of a
carriage going at full speed, which suddenly comes to a dead stop.
The persons dozing within it wake up. Grantaire rose to his feet with
a start, stretched out his arms, rubbed his eyes, stared, yawned, and
understood.”</i><br />
<br />
<br />
So what happens then? He comes over, unnoticed, and as the Guards
are preparing to shoot again, he calls out to stop them. "Vive
la République! I'm one of them. Count me in."
<br />
<br />
-----<br />
<br />
He repeated: "Long live the Republic!" crossed the room
with a firm stride and placed himself in front of the guns beside
Enjolras.<br />
"Finish both of us at one blow," said he.<br />
And turning gently to Enjolras, he said to him:<br />
"Do you permit it?"<br />
Enjolras pressed his hand with a smile.<br />
This smile was not ended when the report resounded.<br />
Enjolras, pierced by eight bullets, remained leaning against the
wall, as though the balls had nailed him there. Only, his head was
bowed.<br />
Grantaire fell at his feet, as though struck by a thunderbolt.<br />
<br />
-----<br />
<br />
So, yeah. He wakes up, realises what the fuck is going on, and
basically has no interest in living in a world without Enjolras, or
in letting E die alone. He won't die for E's cause, but he will die
for E himself, with E accepting him, holding his hand, smiling at
each other.<br />
<br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>ISN'T THAT JUST LOVELY AND CHEERFUL.</i> So yeah. I don't think I need
to really explain WHY this is just the most asnbdhvvdsmnjkjkqwg of
relationships? If you have a soul and good taste, you ship, or at
least, are intrigued, by E/R. I mean it isn't exactly subtle,
especially in a 19th century religious novel. But yes. Where were we. Oh yes. The musical and the movie.<br />
<br />
<br />
With the musical, a good director, who knows the book-canon, knows
how to stage the Grantaire stuff – there are certain parts of
songs/Enjolras's lines that should be directed TO him, and certain
parts in group numbers that he must be the one to sing, including, of
course, the bitter, cynical verse of <i>Drink With Me</i>. A director or
actor who knows Grantaire knows how to basically play up this
relationship, and the movie really does do that. Even though some of
it was cut, I've read the script and there were a lot of stage
directions pertaining to the E/R connection – ones that are still
apparent are mainly, of course, in <i>Red and Black</i>, where Grantaire is
mocking the shit out of Enjolras, incensing Marius while giving E
these sassy-as-fuck looks because he KNOWS what Marius's mooning is
doing to E. And then E sits Grantaire down and sings the “it is
time for us all to decide who we are” at him and kind of chides
him, which is the correct direction that verse should be taking –
some lesser productions have E direct that bit at Marius, and it
shouldn't be – it's directed at R, and then becomes all-encompassing
to the group. The movie stages it perfectly, and later, in <i>One Day
More</i>, Grantaire's reaction shot didn't make it in, but the stage
direction on E's line of “will you take your place with me?” is
'from top of stairs, for Grantaire’s benefit' and then 'Grantaire
rather reluctantly goes upstairs.'<br />
<br />
<br />
And then. And then. The death scene. See, the thing is, in the
musical, they don't really do the "Orestes Fasting and Pylades Drunk" scene. It's too complex, the show is too simple, and they basically
just have all the boys get shot down on the barricade, including
Grantaire. Enjolras dies last, always, and the traditional way it's
done is that he falls, lying on his back hanging down the barricade,
his red flag streaming out below him like blood. It is one of the
play's most iconic images. This may be a good time, or a weird one,
to mention that I actually wanted to call my first son Enjolras, for
about five years in my teens, until I realised that it may be cursing
him to a life of dismay in more ways than one.<br />
<br />
<br />
Anyway. The movie. It does the book's death scene, and it
ended me. The killing of the students is a lot more raw, visceral,
less noble than in the traditional musical. They realise they've lost,
they run, they try to get to safety, and the people of Paris, the
ones they were trying to save, close their doors to the students.
They get boxed in, they get shot through the floors, and Enjolras is
cornered, alone, in the upper room. They don't do the dialogue, but
Grantaire comes in, stops them, says “Long Live The Republic!”
and then crosses the line to take his place beside Enjolras. E hoists the flag he still has wrapped around his fist, and they are
shot together, die together. They're in front of an open window, so
Enjolras does get his traditional stage-musical death shot of being
splayed upside down with the red flag, but still. I NEVER expected
the movie-musical to include their real death scene with this much
thought into what it meant. Ever.<br />
<br />
<br />
It turns out both Aaron Tveit and George Blagden, E and R
respectively, used and became obsessed with the book-canon of their
characters, both together and in general, and used it as a terrific
acting resource. It really, really shows. Aaron has spoken about it
in a couple of interviews, and George is extremely active on Twitter,
is pretty much a shipper himself, and possibly doesn't know what he's
getting himself into with fandom. But he tweets things like this:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhm0EuENPtt4VhIMgJ16Ka7DSePLCIu1hdB0ZkSWJY2r9toh28BM15BW67nifHrFnKFEPPTrUUCTEy0VdJ2wzi3cxH9Z48HGXI6ZEuE5I22MjbUEVd4intJ9yDptNhUTlUnth_AOD1sHQzC/s1600/tumblr_mfhz4dipXg1r8biyko1_500.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhm0EuENPtt4VhIMgJ16Ka7DSePLCIu1hdB0ZkSWJY2r9toh28BM15BW67nifHrFnKFEPPTrUUCTEy0VdJ2wzi3cxH9Z48HGXI6ZEuE5I22MjbUEVd4intJ9yDptNhUTlUnth_AOD1sHQzC/s1600/tumblr_mfhz4dipXg1r8biyko1_500.png" /></a></div>
<br />
<i>That moment when consciousness returns to the drunk man who then realises he is about to lose everything he ever cared about in this world.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<br />
I mean, thanks, George, <i>really</i>. Thanks for that. I'll just go cry in a Fortress of Solitude now. It has actually been a really long time since I have seen a screen
actor this obsessed with his own character, and his own character's
canon. That kind of thing is like crack to me. So yeah, I am drowning
in a well of Grantaire feels right now.<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://25.media.tumblr.com/0e0aa006de6a5b28b941441c1c1f1583/tumblr_mfrwq7FjES1qipg3to1_500.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://25.media.tumblr.com/0e0aa006de6a5b28b941441c1c1f1583/tumblr_mfrwq7FjES1qipg3to1_500.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
This is approximately 7000 words long so common sense dictates that I need to stop. But yes! Les Mis in general gets a big thumbs up from me, and I hope I have traumatised you with information you probably didn't know about one of the greatest (and most canon) queer ships of all time!Nataliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04859638225493801704noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1958949944432225659.post-64570252939201809202012-09-24T19:16:00.000+10:002012-09-24T19:31:15.744+10:00Travelling with four of my five senses!<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I
don't think I'll ever really want to visit anywhere more than I want
to constantly go to/be in Britain, however, I don't go to England to
travel - I go there to go home.<br /><br />But
in the past couple of years, I've become more financially stable and
it looks like I don't have to scrimp and save in order to get back to
London. This means I can do MORE travel - if I could only afford one
trip, I would choose England every single time, but I may now be able
to afford more travel, or maybe do some proper stopovers on the way
to Europe.<br /><br />See,
I want to go to some places feel a bit more different than Western
Europe and the USA. Here's a list of where I've
visited:<br /><br />UK<br />Ireland<br />France<br />Germany<br />Austria<br />Sweden<br />Denmark<br />Netherlands<br />USA<br />Canada<br />Fiji<br />Israel<br /><br />All
of those are fairly 'Western' - Fiji is very resort-style, at least
where I was, and Israel has a huge mix of cultures but I've been
going there since before I can remember. Most of the stops in Europe
were only very short, three days at a time at most, sometimes only
one day. I've allegedly been to Greece and Singapore but I was a baby
and I don't remember it.<br /><br />So.
While I am genuinely most interested in Europe and the culture found
there (as well as the USA and the events/food found there) I feel
like I've travelled a lot but am not particularly 'well-travelled.' I
work in the travel industry so am constantly exposed and reminded of
the existence of thousands of cities and all the unique experiences
to be had. I want to do some of that. And I could do some of that.
The problem, for me, is food.<br /><br /><a href="http://controllist.blogspot.com.au/2012/04/wild-personal-post-appears-i-have-two.html" target="_blank">Ifyou read this blog post, you'll know I have some eating issues.</a> If you haven't, I suggest you read it as the issues are quite severe.</span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"> I'm
terribly ashamed of travelling somewhere with a totally different
style of food and having to not eat it, but the fact of the matter is
that I just can't. People might say how much I'm missing out, how
much it's a major part of the experience... I've heard it all before.
I'm sure that's all true... for you. But eating for me isn't that big
a deal, because I've had these problems so long that I am used to not
experiencing things when it comes to food. I don't often go out to
eat with people even at home. I just eat what I can eat to get by,
and when there is something I really enjoy, I enjoy the fuck out of
it and it's a major luxury. So yes, one day I'm going to go to Naples
just to eat their pizza, and I'll go all around Italy eating pizza
and bread and being disgustingly gluttonous, and when I was in
California I spent $60 on 2lbs of hand-made salt caramels which are a
gift from heaven. But I don't NEED that in my travel. I just need to
be able to eat enough to survive.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br />I
want to visit places in Asia. Maybe Russia, Eastern Europe at least.
Maybe India. South America also, and the West Indies. South Africa,
Egypt and Jordan. I have genuinely no idea how easy it is, in many of
the places I might want to go, to get simple Western food, which is
basically what I need. I'm sorry if it offends you connoisseurs, but
that's the situation and I know it means I'll have trouble going 'off
the beaten track' and out into the wilds. Don't tell me how much I'm
missing. It's not like that. It's how much YOU'D be missing in that
situation. Don't project your values onto me.. I have different
values about food. Pretend that food was just a meagre thing required
to get by, like plugging yourself into a power socket, and I need a
particular type of socket.<br /><br />Can
you help me?<br /><br />I'll
list some examples of places that I'd like to think of visiting. If
you have anything to offer in regards to what I need, please comment,
or Tweet me. (@nataliefisher)<br /><br />Indonesia<br />Philippines<br />Thailand<br />Malaysia<br />Vietnam<br />Hong
Kong<br />China<br />Korea<br />India<br />Sri
Lanka<br />Poland<br />Russia<br />Turkey<br />Poland<br />Czech
Republic<br />Greek
Islands<br />Croatia<br />Spain<br />Egypt<br />Jordan<br />UAE
(Dubai)<br />Oman<br />Southern
Africa<br />Ecuador<br />Brazil<br />Argentina<br />West
Indies<br />Mexico<br /><br />Here
is my question - if you have visited any of these places - or any
other places you think I should visit - how easy do you think it
would be for me to eat, relatively simply and normally for me? I'm
talking more supermarket food than restaurant food. For example, safe
fresh fruit/veg I could buy, commercial Western brands I would
recognise being sold, or even fast food? I've been to Malaysia - not
into the city, just around the airport, and this is a good example -
I ate McDonalds there and it was pretty much the same as any
McDonalds anywhere. Same goes for Korea. It should be noted that I'm
not obsessed with McDonalds, I just happen to have instant trust in
regards to them, like I know their world standards so I wouldn't be
scared of going and getting some fries and fries are a staple of
simple filling foods that I can eat and sometimes easier to get than
plain bread, depending on the culture.<br /><br />Now,
I'd be happy to go to anywhere in Asia and experience all the
culture, forests, wildlife, history, temples etc. and then go back to
my hotel room at night and stuff myself with plain fries, Coca Cola,
and a couple of bananas and oranges. I can sustain myself like that,
I generally only eat one proper-sized meal a day as it is.<br /><br />So,
friends, tell me - where is this plausible? I imagine somewhere like
Bangkok that's no problem, but I'm more interested in northern
Thailand and also the islands. I think Bali might be okay? My idea
for Asian travel is beaches and forests, wild life, boats, temples,
sculpted gardens, serene mountains, local craft, history and culture,
markets, etc etc. As far as Europe goes, I want to go to
Gallipoli, I want to see ancient ruins, I want to see beautiful
museums and stately buildings. As far as South America, Russia, India
and Africa go - I have no idea what might be plausible in regards to
my eating.<br /><br />I
know in a lot of these places, the culture may vary hugely from big
cities to smaller places. I don't love the idea of big Asian cities,
it overwhelms me quite a bit, but I'd stay there and potentially go
on day trips out to the slightly more remote places if possible, in
order to see what I might like to see and still be able to eat? I
could bring my own food on such trips if I'm able to buy it in the
cities.<br /><br />I
just want to hold baby tigers AND eat McDonalds, okay? Is that a
thing that can happen in my life?</span>
</div>
Nataliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04859638225493801704noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1958949944432225659.post-62301216081850020052012-09-11T18:53:00.001+10:002012-09-11T19:00:42.580+10:00Review: Magic Mike - The Stripper Film<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #454545;">So in an attempt to write more - to record more about what's inside my head, and also to help myself learn to write concisely, I'm going to try and write down my thoughts on each movie I watch from here on out - for the next month, 6 months, a year. Some posts will be about the first time I'm seeing the movie, some will be about re-watches. Thrilling. Here goes:</span></span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545;"><b>Magic Mike (2012)</b></span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545;">watched 1st September, 2012 </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545;">first time seeing it</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545;">First off: despite the hype, it needs to be stated that there was not a single moment in this movie where I was titillated. I'm pretty sure that was intentional on the part of the film-makers - I mean, I'm certain many men and women who are attracted to men would find this movie appealing and just used it as an excuse to giggle and squeal, but I think that if you went to see the movie through that gaze, you might have missed the actual point of it, and - while I'm sure they helped box office sales - after seeing the film, I'm even more certain that the people who went for the eye-candy were not the intended audience of Magic Mike. </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545;">I was interested in seeing Magic Mike because I'm generally interested in exposure to alternative or taboo lifestyles (even though I'm really prudish IRL, Secret Diary of a Callgirl is one of my favourite shows ever,) and the small snippets of dialogue in the trailer proved to me that this really was a film about that, not a film about looking at men's bodies. </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545;">I found Magic Mike to be really raw, raw in a good way, with very natural dialogue. In the last few years, some films and TV shows have finally actually been able to write words that sound normal, that sound real, that sound like the way people actually talk, and get the actors to deliver them ways that SOUND normal and natural. Do you know how rare that has been? For the majority of Hollywood history, (contemporary British entertainment has always done a lot better on this front, but that's a rant for another day) people haven't actually talked the way they do in real life - even in a 'realistic' movie like a biopic or a rom-com or anything set modern day. There's always been an element of it being thought out, and written, which of course it was, and sometimes that's a good thing because writers have the skill of taking the feelings we want to express and articulating them in ways that we just can't say, especially off the top of our heads. So we turn to quoting things, such as these films, to express what we mean in ways that have already been written for us and resonated with us. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545;">But lately, in the last 5 years or so - I'm sure older examples exist, but I'm noticing it more and more now - people have actually started making films where the characters talk like real humans, and I find it much more immersive and effective. Even in comedies, where obviously people are funnier than in real life - the film No Strings Attached and the show New Girl (both written by Liz Meriwether) spring to mind. Even in superhero films - the realistic, natural performance of Andrew Garfield just playing a derpy teenager was the best thing about The Amazing Spider-Man. For lack of a better word, certain film-makers are making their films - or at least the dialogue and delivery by the actors, if not the plot - less over-dramatic. And I'm really, really into that. I'm sure some people find it boring, but for me I'm constantly air-punching over it. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545;">This quality abounds in Magic Mike, particularly in all the interactions between Mike, the lead character, and Brooke, the sister of his young workmate. Sometimes, the conversations are downright awkward, like Brooke doesn't know how to talk to the boys - not in a blushing virgin way, just in a 'I don't know what to talk to you about' way. And that's realistic. She's a medical assistant and her brother and his new best friend are male strippers and they keep hanging out with her. In real life, there would be plenty of moments where, in that situation, the conversation would be awkward. And in a movie, traditionally, people would be cooler and smoother than in real life, and they'd be funny, sassy, snappy and they'd be able to talk because they'd been written that way. However, this film looked at the reality of a situation like this and really seems to have written that reality. I appreciate that.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545;">The plot was interesting enough, and I do like the fact that Channing Tatum pitched this movie involving some of his own experiences as a stripper in order to draw back the curtain on the industry a little. I think it worked very well, and showed a good deal of the behind-the-scenes of this alternative lifestyle - the backstage, the business, the rehearsals, the social interactions from the (possibly expected) drug-fuelled orgy parties to the much more laid back and fun beach trip which could have been taken by any group of workmates and friends who had access to a boat. It did a good job of showing that while the lifestyle did have the expected amount of dirt and glamour, that the people involved are normal. It shows what quick 'fame' or success can do to people, with The Kid going from insecurity to arrogance and then carelessness pretty fast. But I just really liked the character of Mike, I liked his relationship with the psychology student Joanna and how he chose to keep going back to her for hookups rather than taking girls from the bar. It was a sign of his search for something in his life with more meaning, that he wants to trust and befriend people, and that he doesn't take advantage of the 'benefits' of the lifestyle of his job. But it isn't done in a way that makes him some beacon of purity. There's no moment in the film where there's any 'oh, these are my morals, I'm a stripper but I don't do THAT' - he's just a normal and decent guy who pretty much lives by the Wil Wheaton law of 'don't be a dick.' And it's a little painful to see him doing that and for people, like Brooke and the bank manager, to not give him credit for that, or for them to expect him not to be decent.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545;">If I wasn't sure from the trailers, the ending and its lack of resolution made me certain that this was meant to be a pithy film. We don't know what happened to Adam, The Kid, whether he moved on with the club and became the new 'Mike' - he has no real redemption, either. We don't know whether Joanna was engaged the entire time she knew Mike - but I liked that his discovery of the situation hurt him, though, even though his true feelings were for Brooke. It is another example of this man not wanting to feel used and abused, that his job is not his personality and how problematic it is for him when people assume that he feels a certain way because of what he does for work. At the end, he does get Brooke, but that's where we leave them - no resolution regarding his choice to leave the club and the fact he's spent all his money to save the ungrateful Kid. I suppose we're meant to assume he stays in Tampa and finds a way to make ends meet, making furniture and enjoying Brooke, but I was reminded strongly of another Soderbergh film, Erin Brockovich, where the ending is mostly in place but the last scene is Erin approaching the door of her ex, so we don't know the resolution to every issue in the story. There's a pretty decent assessment that the difference between entertainment and art, a movie and a film, is that a movie ends, but a film stops, and if you go by that rule, Magic Mike is a pretty great film. </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545;" /><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #454545;">Also: tiny tiny pig! I will save you, tiny pig, from Elvis Presley's manic pixie dream girl granddaughter who feeds you drugs and vomit. OMG,</span><span style="color: #454545;"> if I was squealing over anything in Magic Mike, it was in every moment featuring the TINY PIG.</span></span>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #454545; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Next up: Spice World. Yeah.</span></span>Nataliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04859638225493801704noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1958949944432225659.post-78422671574225126222012-04-02T21:16:00.001+10:002012-04-02T21:28:32.338+10:00A Wild Personal Post Appears: I Have Two Conflicting Diseases!<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Just in case some of you aren't aware of one or the other of these, I have two major health problems.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">1. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selective_eating_disorder">Selective Eating Disorder</a> - I have had this my whole life, since before I can remember. Calling me a picky eater or asking me to just try something is the same as asking a clinically depressed person to "just cheer up." It has improved a little in the last five years, but by a little I mean moving on from eating one specific brand of plain cheese to trying other similar brands. It causes extreme social problems because I cannot go "out to eat" anywhere with people unless I'm dictating where, which seems controlling and is also repetitive and boring to others. I can only eat very plain foods, I can't mix foods, the most complex food I can eat is pizza (base + sauce + a couple of toppings like mushrooms and olives + cheese) but like.. I can't eat a cheese sandwich, or mushrooms on their own, or tomato sauce on pasta. I think I can only eat pizza because I've eaten it since before I remember. I just can't put things in my mouth, texture is a big thing, like plain rice or mashed potato, tried both, and while it isn't a repulsive flavor like licorice or something, I can't eat more than a mouthful because of texture. There are millions of things, it's easier to list the things I can eat than I can't. I can eat - quite a big range of fruit, a medium range of vegetables (raw, never cooked), white bread (of varying types, not just like sliced sandwich bread, I can eat Italian bread, sourdough etc), plain cheese like tasty or mild cheddar, snack foods like plain crisps and crackers, a few types of nuts, sweet snacks like cookies, pastry and plain cake, pizza, chips/fries (unseasoned), juice, soda, one single brand of chocolate milk, plain pasta (literally just cooked in heavily salted water and that's it), olives, ice cream.. I think that's it. That's all. I have tried to treat this with a range of options including seeing a nutritionist and a hypnotherapist. The article also mentions "severe refusal behaviors if presented with non-preferred foods" and that is more than accurate, including, for me, sobbing, anxiety, shame, anger. Not just like, if I see the food, but if I am either forced or socially pressured into eating it, or if I think I'm not going to be able to obtain food I can eat.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">2. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulcerative_colitis">Ulcerative Colitis</a> - this is an autoimmune, inflammatory bowel and stomach disease. You may have heard of Crohn's Disease, this is a type of it. Don't read the wiki, it's gross. But basically it means I have a lot of stomach problems, sores on my intestine, sometimes pain, sometimes bleeding into the gut. It's not curable. It's managed with steroids and with lifestyle/diet changes. Sometimes they have to operate later in life and cut out bits of your intestine that are too eroded. People who have it have a high risk of bowel cancer later in life. It isn't 24/7, it can go away and come back, this is called a flare-up. It's a chronic disease. I was diagnosed in 2008, and that was pretty bad, and 2009 was pretty bad. 2010 and 2011 were not so bad, but this year I had to go to hospital in January and I'm having a new flare-up now which is presenting with a fun, apparently common side effect (but the first time I've had it) - crippling joint pain. This will lead to arthritis. Last night I was having fits of shaking, a crazy fever, and my knees locked up and I had to take strong painkillers AND a high dose of steroids to get to sleep. Both times that I've been in hospital for this - when I was diagnosed and early this year - my pain was managed with high doses of morphine. I really hate morphine. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Have I mentioned this disease has no cure and also no cause? It is a fucking first world problem. It presents most commonly in Ashkenazi Jews, of which I am one, genetically. It's a fairly "new" disease, a "lifestyle" disease which may come from our culture's exposure to pollution or refined foods or stress. It is a fucking #firstworldproblem but it can be very debilitating.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">I'm terrified of this joint pain becoming regular and having to depend on steroids regularly because of how fat and sick they make you in other ways. I'm trying to figure out if I can make any lifestyle changes and let me tell you the foods that are worst to eat - foods high in fibre or highly processed, such as raw vegetables, fruits with pulp or seeds, nuts, breads, whole grains, refined sugar, and for some people, dairy. Carbonated drinks, caffeine, and spicy foods are all bad too. Meat, also, but I'm a vegetarian since childhood for moral reasons, so I'm never going to eat meat.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">WHAT THE FUCK AM I MEANT TO EAT? Even without SED I have no idea how people with UC get any nutrition sticking to that diet. Do they just eat mashed potatoes and sprinkle some crushed vitamin tablets on top? But seriously without complex carbohydrates and the vegetables I can eat, my diet will not be in any way enough to keep me alive. I'm surprised that I haven't had deficient before, due to my SED, but I've only ever lacked B vitamins and iron due to not eating meat. I could manage the SED alone or the UC alone but it's starting to become worrying and scary trying to deal with them both together. I'm getting sicker and I don't know what to do.</span>Nataliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04859638225493801704noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1958949944432225659.post-45699736070339350392012-03-30T20:24:00.002+11:002012-03-30T20:30:13.395+11:00The Hunger Games: Now That's What I Call An Adaptation.<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">At 11am on the 22nd March, myself and two friends went to see The Hunger Games.</span><br />
<div><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">I am not promising that this post will flow as a coherent narrative, and it will contain spoilers.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Firstly, I will say this. While no book-to-film movie is ever going to be perfect, this one did a better job than anything I've ever seen. Whether it was the involvement of the author in the creation process, the fact that the lead character was played by a very passionate fan of the source material, or that the film creators/people at Lionsgate - themselves just really put in the dedication to make it faithful and true because they thought the message of the book was important enough to deserve that... I don't know. Maybe all three. But they did a great job and I think what they made showed a lot of bravery and took a lot of risks.. They told the story as it is, at the risk of alienating new audiences with the harsh and political subject matter. But their gamble worked as The Hunger Games had the third-biggest opening weekend of all time - the first not to be a sequel film, and the first to be both based on a story by a female writer and about a female protagonist. So... Yaaaay, Lionsgate! Yaaaaay Collins! Yaaaaay Jennifer Lawrence! Honestly I think Lionsgate had a lot to do with it. They're an independant studio who put out generally weird, arty, risky, thought provoking movies and who have never touched on a franchise this huge. It feels like they approached making this movie the way they'd make something arthouse, that may not get any viewers, like they weren't working with a huge phenomenon, like the whole entertainment world wasn't desperately waiting to judge them. It just felt like they read the book, said "this is an important story, let's do it as well as it deserves." I believe even director Gary Ross said something recently like "I really didn't expect it to do as well as it did." I think this is a good attitude to have when making some sort of art. Just do it because you believe in it. Even the marketing campaign surrounding the release and the products sold... none of them were tacky or money-grabbing, everything that was produced was really beautiful and stuff that fans would really appreciate... no "Team Peeta" phone charms and keychains and bracelets clogging up impulse-buy counters in every bookstore.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Anyway, the film.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">- It looked and felt great. I could never quite get a handle on the mix between the advanced technology and poverty in the districts in the book. Every time they were in 12 and mentioned TV or phones I would get confused because the lifestyle they had... I just couldn't get it to work in my head. I'm not very good at dystopian society. But the film showed it better, it didn't feel unnatural and I liked that. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">- That being said, I didn't understand some of the technology - mostly the tech of the Games itself. The room with the Games map and how they sent things into the Games really confused me... Was it like, what they did to the model automatically happened in real life? Like a voodoo doll? But they don't have magic... I understand that they can build the arena, wire everything up and program it from afar, but does that mean the trees aren't real trees? The thing that mostly confused me was the inserting of the Mutts, but I am going to have to assume that someone physically created them, the image was in the map, and when the Game programmer inserted the image onto the map, somewhere, someone else inserted the physical real Mutt. Because I kind of felt like she inserted it into the map and it magically appeared there? Like that she cast a spell or something or even a hologram, when it was obviously all real. So I'd like some explanation of that technology.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">- They changed or left out things, but unlike many other films, it wasn't enough to really matter. The way Katniss got the Mockingjay pin, for example, yes, we lost the whole character of Madge but the way she found it both introduced us to The Hob and left it open that we could find out later where it came from originally - we may yet get that connection to Haymitch's partner. Seneca's execution was much less violent than in the books, but even more twisted and fucked up. Things were changed, and yes, violent was cut out, but the end result is bringing the same overall message to the screen by making parts more watchable. They changed or shortened what they had to in order to tell the story with the same values - and not a lot of films do that. They cut things for time, or because they don't realise it's going to be important later on (hmmm, Potter) or simply because they have new ideas they think are better/funnier/more dramatic than the original content. The Hunger Games doesn't do that. It doesn't add in anything new. It paints the picture of the Panem world. It changes or shortens bits and pieces in order to show more of that world, and it leaves enough room to come back to them to broaden the story later - it drops references to the tesserae, District 13, Katniss' mother's mental illness. It does such a good job of SHOWING rather than TELLING - and with a book that's so much internal monologue, that's hard. They don't TELL us that Katniss cares for Rue because of Prim. They don't TELL us that Snow is a creepy-ass twisted man. They don't TELL us that Gale has feelings for Katniss. They don't TELL us that Haymitch hates the Capitol and hates schmoozing to sponsors and does it anyway because he believes in Katniss. They don't TELL us that Caesar is a sincere man who really cares about all the Tributes and does his best to show them off and get them support. They don't TELL us that Cinna is not your average Capitol stylist. So many movies just make characters comment with these things, explaining them just in case someone missed it. The Hunger Games does not do this. It trusts the audience and it does not set out to appeal to the lowest common denominator of humans. So many movies who try to make money do this - they play to the lowest common denominator just to make sure EVERYONE understands and I hate that because it makes it apparent that the creators think the audience is stupid.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">So onto some character stuff: </span></div><div><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">- Katniss: was fine. Jennifer never would have been my first choice for Katniss based on her looks and her warmth, but I knew she would do a good job because she's such a huge fan and she cares about the character. I knew I was going to like her from the first time I heard her speak about it, that when she was being considered for the role she kept going up to the director at events being like "um even if you don't cast me, you have to make sure this bit is like this, promise me? that's really important in the book". I support her and I'm glad she's getting to do this.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">- Peeta: I was very, very anti Josh as Peeta before the film. Partially because of his bad dye job and the fact his face looks like it's made up of bits of other people's faces which don't fit together very well, but mostly because of the way he speaks, his voice, and the acting I've seen him do before. I didn't think he'd do well. I thought his Peeta would come across as too innocent and naive and not crafty enough. I didn't trust that he'd deliver a lot of the lines in a way that I'd buy, based on his delivery in the trailer. I was wrong. He was actually really good. They did change a major thing that I was worried about - you can't do a lot about someone's speaking tone and I just was not going to be able to buy him talking the way Peeta talks to Katniss in the Games, when he calls her sweetheart. Very few 16 year old boys can pull that off and sound smooth and natural and gorgeous and when I was fantasy-casting Hunger Games, this was a major factor as to how I'd cast Peeta - someone who could talk that way, because it's one of my favorite things as it reminds me of how all the lovely sassy men in Tamora Pierce novels talk. Josh... can't. But they eliminated that problem by just not having him use those phrases, which was a bit of a bummer, especially the loss of my favorite line,<i> 'You here to kill me, sweetheart?'</i> but he did the rest so well that at the end of the day I'm kind of okay with it. He made up for it in his interview with Cesar which was literally perfection in film form. That confidence and natural onstage ability and that flirting was exactly the way Katniss describes in the books - (and again, they SHOW us this aspect of Peeta without having someone commentate it) and his crafty, pretending to be naive, playing up to the crowds thing really worked as well, when they had him waving from the train window.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">- The one thing that I'm not sure was made all that clear to a casual viewer was Peeta and Katniss' relationship. I am not sure if people thought Katniss really fell for Peeta when she realised she could let him live... or if Peeta was ever sincere about his feelings when he revealed them in the interview... it was sort of made clear at the end when she looks uncertain and resigned about having to keep up the pretense, but they did change the ending - in the book she was MUCH more quick to draw her weapon and expect Peeta to draw his when it was announced that the two-can-live rule was revoked. The film basically made it a bit more confusing as to who was actually feeling what... but I am assuming a lot of Catching Fire will be about that. Oh, and it was a little thing and an unnecessary thing, so I understand why they cut it, but I missed Katniss drugging Peeta because I think it says a lot about her and about Haymitch.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">- Haymitch, Effie and Cinna were all perfect and the scenes showing their dynamic when dealing with the kids in the lead-up to the Games were probably my favorite scenes in the film. They were all just incredible and I can't wait to see it again, just for that. I can't wait to see more of Haymitch in the next film, and seeing Elizabeth as Effie facing up to the rebellion while trying to keep her ideas of the world in place... and seeing what happens to Cinna is going to destroy me. They were all magical. I wish I could say more but they were just too good. I want a spin-off of like, their lives while the kids were in the Games. I also really loved the way they did Effie at the Reaping, like her false positivity - it told a big story. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">- I also loved Wes Bentley as Seneca Crane. He had a great energy about him... I don't know how I pictured Seneca in the books, but it wasn't like that. But yes - loved his vibe, he was enthusiastic but somehow without being bloodthirsty or creepy or too caught up in it? He was a bit mad scientist. He was enigmatic. I didn't see him as a villain. I don't know what I saw him as, but I felt bad for him. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">- Another person I loved was Stanley Tucci as Caesar Flickerman. As I mentioned, I felt like he really came across as sincere, slightly troubled, and supportive of all the Tributes. I was surprised to read that Tucci thought the character was false and creepy because I did not take that from him at all. I loved him and I loved the way he talked to the kids. The books never paint him as a villain and I really hope Tucci's ideas don't mean that they make him creepier in the next films. I was so fond of him in this one. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">- Amandla Stenberg as Rue was perfect and I don't even want to get into the mass stupidity surrounding that subject right now. But anyway... she was just so natural and funny and, yes, while an innocent, so are all the Tributes, and she wasn't a doe-eyed little angel. I loved her and Thresh, and what we saw of District 11. The Victor's Tour to 11 will be hard to watch in the next film, I think.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">- Gale was fine and we'll see more of him soon. I'm glad they didn't hardcore love-triangle it. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Bits I cried at: </span></div><div><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">- Both times they did the three fingered salute - at the Reaping and when Katniss did it to the cameras after she looked after Rue's body.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">- Weirdly and unexpectedly, when Katniss became the Girl on Fire. Something about that parade scene and her reaction to it. It moved me, man. I don't know. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Irrelevant side note - Can I have Katniss's Capitol clothes? Not her dresses... I just want her cool loungy pants and tops that she wore in all the apartment scenes. Also Peeta's knitted hoodie jumper thing. They look so awesome and comfy.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">That seems a bit of an irreverent moment to end this post, but I can't really think of what else to say. I am excited for the next movie and I want it NOW and I want Jonathan Groff to play Finnick and Naya Rivera to play Johanna. And I think if they do want to split one of the next two films, it should be Catching Fire, not Mockingjay, and they should do the tour as one film and the 75th Games as another. Mockingjay is too much of a short and hectic time period to be split, it won't make sense. But I do trust the creators and the studio to do a good job with the next films and so I really hope they don't let us down. </span></div>Nataliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04859638225493801704noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1958949944432225659.post-87185282980516664752011-11-09T00:37:00.000+11:002011-11-09T00:37:51.348+11:003x04 - Pot 'O Gold<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #454545;">I wrote the recap for 3x04 on Hypable last week, so <a href="http://www.hypable.com/glee/2011/11/02/glee-recap-episode-3x04-pot-o-gold/" target="_blank">my post is over there</a>, however, I wanted to note down a few personal opinions before today's episode airs:</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545;" /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #454545;"><b>Finn:</b> is taking out his own insecurities on Blaine, and it isn't fair. Blaine is famously non-competitive, was made a leader at Dalton by circumstance and not by his own ambition. He's happy to do what the group wants, and participates purely for fun. When he stands up and offers his enthusiasm or encouragement, he just genuinely wants to help - he's not being arrogant, ambitious or domineering, and Finn cuts down Blaine's contributions because he's insecure in his own leadership and talent - and possibly, possibly because of repressed homophobia (which is addressed interestingly in <a href="http://lettersfromtitan.com/2011/11/02/glee-the-rules-for-boys/" target="_blank">this blog post</a>). He needs to knock it off and see the facts, which is that Blaine has no shitty or selfish motives here.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545;" /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #454545;"><b>Last Friday Night:</b> was the most pointless, transparent, money-grabbing number ever. It was put in purely to create sales, because Darren Criss doing pop songs has been a winning play for them in the past. However, regardless of the obviousness of that and how out if place it seemed, it was fucking adorable and strangely realistic and natural. I mean, think about it. He got the band to play a song - a current hit that they'd all know the words to without having to be taught - and he started them off in what is basically just a big sing-along, everyone running and jumping and having fun together. I love unpolished choir room numbers - Ride Wit' Me is still one of my favorite moments on the show. So I kind of loved this even though it was ridiculously pointless. However, I feel that Finn's enthusiasm was unrealistic given his prior behaviour - but apparently having two characters object to an event at the same tome is something they can't handle or be bothered going into, and they felt they had to show Santana's objections - despite the fact that Santana later calls out Finn's jealousy. So I would have liked to see Finn eye-rolling and not participating in LFN as well - it would have been self-explanatory.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545;" /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><b style="color: #454545;">Santana:</b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #454545;"> is gorgeous and perfect and wonderful and nervous and vulnerable and delicate and brash and I love her forever. That restaurant date scene just killed me, she's so fucking terrified. Naya Rivera is a splendid actress - she is equally talented in comedy, drama and singing. She does very, very little with her face and yet it conveys absolutely everything, just by the way she moves her eyes or the set of her jaw. She's a gift to this show - when I saw the Glee panel at SDCC this year, the writers freely admitted that she was hired as basically an extra, a pretty face to back up Quinn, and they never, never expected her talent. They are so fucking lucky they've got her, she is one of the flawless things on this show. It was shitty of Santana to manipulate Brittany by making Rory 'wish' on her, but that wasn't her original plan - she meant what she said at Breadstix and only confronted Rory afterwards, in the heat of the moment while angry about Blaine. While it doesn't make Santana's actions excusable, Brittany does end up solidifying her own choice due to Finn's treatment of her. I am glad the dating issue was established and the fact it was done in a way that showed what I've always felt about Santana- that it must be so, so hard to be inescapably in love with someone less intelligent than yourself, that it must make communicating so stressful. But Santana is so patient with Brittany and it's gorgeous. The way she said that thing at the start, about the special place where Brittany lives - it wasn't mean, it was beautiful and almost made me cry. I think Santana deeply wishes she could be as happy as Brittany.</span></span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545;" /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #454545;"><b>Burt Hummel:</b> deserves all the awards, but especially for having time for any of Will's sctick.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545;" /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #454545;"><b>Kurt:</b> is self-involved, and bears shit in the woods. Something about his comment about the stress of Burt's campaign and how him being gay will be making it worse, and Burt's like 'lol, it's a non-issue' rubbed me the wrong way. It rubbed me harder the wrong way when I rewatched today, given some recent issues on the same subject in regards to Chris Colfer himself.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545;" /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #454545;"><b>Quinn:</b> is way fucking crazy and I'm annoyed that they've done this to her character - I wish they'd show her emotional damage in a way that would make people feel sorry for her and take her seriously.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545;" /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #454545;"><b>Puck:</b> is everything I ever dreamed he'd be since early season 1. I've invested a lot in him and he's never disappointed me - he is a phenomenal human being, he's truly a good person and his development and softening has been very consistent. Also, the Shelby thing - called it. But her unloading onto him, while I get it, was pretty unhealthy and irresponsible of her.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545;" /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><b style="color: #454545;">Rory:</b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #454545;"> I kind of hate him. He's a creep. I liked that Brittany was suspicious and unhappy about him being in her room, though he changed her mind fast. When he was singing Bein' Green, my roommate said "you're pretending to be a mythical creature in order to trick a girl into sleeping with you, sorry that I don't care about your problems." Which, accurate. Also, Kurt's being a little bitch currently, but I do wonder if his negative, jealous reaction to Rory's singing is going to be extended on. Damian McGinty has mentioned that - Kurt being threatened by Rory's falsetto - as an issue in a bit of press, and he can't have been referring to just those couple of eyerolls, can he? I see Kurt getting a complex that this kid can sing in his range and in a traditional men's range as well. I honestly don't know what plot-line they could give him for another 7 episodes or whatever - wracking my brains and I can not imagine whatsoever what they are going to do with Rory.</span></span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545;" /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #454545;"><b>Continuity question of the week:</b> at the start of the episode, Kurt was viciously attacking Rachel about her presidental candidacy. At the end, during Rory's audition, Rachel is sitting <i>between</i> Blaine and Kurt, and nudges Kurt enthusiastically about Rory. Is the hatchet buried? Or was this just a bit of inconsistency?</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545;" /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #454545;"><b>Random things I loved:</b> the protesting woman in Figgins' hallway, and the funeral directors scene. Fucking amazeballs, ohhhh my god. That is the kind of screwball absurdist comedy that this show excels at, when it's at its best. I just died. </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545;" /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #454545;">See you very soon on Glee Chat for talk about 3x05!</span></span>Nataliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04859638225493801704noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1958949944432225659.post-80940056402817451372011-11-07T10:36:00.000+11:002011-11-07T11:02:38.480+11:00Some Questions about the "ins and outs" of Glee's 'First Time'<div style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"></span></span><br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;">You'd have to be living in another solar system if you follow Glee and yet know nothing about this week's upcoming episode, <i>'The First Time.'</i> Seriously, even the headmaster of Pigfarts (I hear he's a big Blaine fan) got the memo that it's going to be about two teen couples - one straight, one gay - considering having sex. </span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;">That's as far as I'll go into Glee spoiler territory. I do know a little more, but this post does not need to involve those details and is basically spoiler-free. This is about a much wider issue than Glee plots and characters. I want to talk about whether there are double standards regarding straight and gay sex. I want to talk about defining virginity in straight or same-sex couples, and I want to talk about whether Glee will address, acknowledge, define or clarify any of these differences.</span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;">This will mostly be posed a series of questions. I don't have a solid opinion on this - I don't have something I consider to be The Answer that I am hoping Glee conforms to. I don't know what I believe. I am simply curious as to how Glee will tackle the subject at hand, or if they will at all - so this just me, asking the questions that have been running through my mind. None of them are loaded, and if anything comes across offensively, it is due to my unaware ignorance, not active disregard. Please feel free to correct me politely.</span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;">Losing one's virginity - everyone knows what that means for a straight couple. Whether or not you hold to that definition yourself, the stereotyped dictionary definition of 'having sex' is a man and woman having PIV intercourse, and losing virginity is doing this act for the first time. </span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;">Is that definition fair? I personally think that is a fine definition as far as straight couples go, but how do you apply this to same-gender sexual relations in the name of equality?</span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;">Should there be the same standards for everyone, the generalized 'fourth base'/'furthest point' of "normal" sexual acts, using only the body and no sexual aids, between a couple (please imagine <i>normal</i> said sarcastically and with fingerquotes) - male/male penetrative anal sex, male/female penetrative vaginal sex, female/female oral sex? </span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;">Is it about first time touching below the belt, first time bringing each other to orgasm, or sticking something in someone else? If it's both parties orgasming during the same sexual session, as I have seen it defined in some places, then I am a hardcore virgin and I've been sexually active for ten years.</span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;">My personal situation is fairly simple - I am a cis-gendered bisexual woman, I identified as bisexual before puberty and before I had even <i>kissed</i> either a boy or girl, and I lost my virginity to a guy in standard m/f sex. My first kiss was with a boy, but prior to this, my first sexual encounter was with a girl, but I do not count it as "having sex" as the situation was very one-sided. So I can define my own virginity pretty easily.</span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;">Other bisexual women don't have such a simple definition. I asked my friend C about her experiences. I know she has had a long-term gay relationship. I don't know her specific experiences with men.</span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><b>Me: a) You consider yourself bisexual, right? b) have you ever had sex with a guy? c) do you consider yourself a virgin?</b></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><b><br />
</b></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><b>C: a) Yes, b) Yes, c) No, but, prior to the guy, still no.</b></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;">So, regardless of being bisexual and open to straight sex, she considers her gay sex experiences to have accounted for her loss of virginity, even though, by the generalised standard, she had not crossed the line of doing "all" that is possible to someone for whom straight penetrative sex is an option she may experience.</span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;">And gay men? What do they count as "having sex" rather than sexual acts, what is counted as having crossed that virginity line? </span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;">I'm not a man, so I feel like I can't make any calls about this. But all I hear in fandom is women making judgement calls on this matter. There is a lot of beautiful flowery Klaine fanfiction about their loss of virginity and the general consensus seems to be that the boys get to decide, define and choose what "having sex" means. Handjobs - first sexual contact, mutual orgasm. Blowjobs. Penetration. It all counts as loss of virginity from someone's perspective in a different fantasy Klaine world somewhere. However, at least 90% of this - and 90% is generous, it's more like 98% - is written by cis-gendered women and girls, a decent chunk of whom are not sexually experienced in any way. Women writing for other women about gay male sex - something they have very little genuine perspective on. I'm not going to hate on it, because I've read plenty of fanfiction over the years, but I'm just not that prepared to formulate real-world opinions on this topic based off the judgement calls of female fanfic writers, sorry. </span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;">And it gets more complicated. If someone stands up and says "okay, final answer. losing virginity is body penetration, vaginal for straight couples, anal for male couples" does that mean, to them, lesbians are virgins forever? Is this "choosing how to define it" something that gay boys and girls <i>actually</i> do, or do they have their own generalised set of standards and this "choosing what counts" concept is basically a fantasy?</span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;">Should straight couples be given the right to define their own virginity the way that it's implied that gay couples do? Say that some teen male couple defines oral sex as "having sex" and that by having done that, they are no longer virgins. What about a straight guy who has also received a blowjob? Virgin? Not virgin? Why should the same physical act for one guy count as loss of virginity, yet not for another guy? What about straight couples having penetrative anal sex? Yeah, that's an act that doesn't usually happen prior in a relationship to "normal" sex (again, fingerquotes, <i>normal</i>) but it DOES happen, and what does that "count" as? What about when it comes down to tallying the amount of people you've "had sex" with? Another friend, L, says <i>"I kind of consider myself as having had sex with a couple of people with no actual vagina-penis interaction."</i> - whereas I may object if I heard through the grapevine that some guy was saying he and I "had sex" when I did not consider that the truth of the matter.</span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;">Is the main question to be asking:</span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><b>How come straight couples get to have a clear definition of "loss of virginity", but same-sex couples have to pick and choose a definition, </b></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;">or:</span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><b>How come same sex-couples get to pick a definition of "loss of virginity", but straight couples have to use a pre-defined one?</b></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;">I think my real question is - who's got the short end of the stick? Because I genuinely do not know. It could really go both ways.</span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;">I'm really trying not making any judgement calls myself here, about what I believe or what 'should' be the case, either in Glee or in the real world, but what I do feel is that having one set of rules for straight couples and another set of rules for same sex isn't all that fair. I just don't know <i>which</i> group is being, ahem, shafted.</span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">(A couple of asides about Glee specifically: 1) are we meant to believe that Kurt is just A-OK with jumping straight into sex? The last we saw of him in regards to sex, he was throwing Blaine out of his room for bringing up the subject and basically saying he had no sex drive, did not fantasize, did not masturbate, etc. Are we meant to buy that he has worked through all this off-screen and that they've been doing "stuff" other than kissing over the last year? If that's the case, I hope that is clearly addressed because what happened in the episode<i> 'Sexy' </i>was clearly a deep-seated issue for him;</span></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">and 2) if they do define or imply "having sex" to mean penetrative sex and they make Blaine top, then I am side-eyeing the writers' abilities to know their own characters. Despite the fact that in a relationship with someone like Karofsky, or Finn, or Puck, or Brian Kinney, Kurt would automatically be stereotyped as a bottom (which also isn't particularly fair or necessarily true, but it's a fact that he'd be stereotyped as such), that's clearly not the dynamic between him and Blaine right now, and while, yes, things may change and grow as their sexual relationship develops, and yes, these things can be indefinable, Blaine right now is realistically the picture of a complete bottom and the people in fandom who are clinging to the idea that he's this suave, in-control, smooth top are the ones also clinging to the white-knight image of him presented in<i> 'Never Been Kissed'</i> - which we know was a complete act. In fact, it has been discussed at length that the reason Blaine took so long to fall for Kurt was due to him seeing Kurt as being another version of the role he saw himself playing in a relationship, the young, more fey, twinkier, and more submissive party. Look at him going after Jeremiah. And once he did fall for Kurt - once Kurt had regained his confidence and dominant personality - we have seen nothing but Blaine submitting to Kurt over and over. And yes, I know - not that emotional submission has to = sexual submission, and not that sexual submission has to do with who sticks what where. But come on. Let's be real. Blaine is submissive, especially up against Kurt, and the easiest way for a TV show to simplify and define that to an audience is to show him as a bottom. If they make it otherwise, I'm going to side-eye them very hard, both for enforcing the stereotype of guys who look and talk and act like Kurt despite their efforts to usually avoid this - football, working with cars, not wanting to play a drag role, "I'm not a box, there are more than four sides to me." - and for ignoring what they've developed of Blaine's character as well. I think the message it will send to the general public - the ones who don't analyse the hell out of everything - will not be one that does the characters justice, because it it is left unclarified, I think that people will assume Kurt to be "the girl." (biggest sarcastic fingerquotes possible). Anyway. This is not actually the point of this post, at all, but I just had to say that. Even though I'm a cis-gendered woman having an opinion on gay male sexual dynamics, which we've established is not really within my rights. Please disassociate this part with the main point here, but I am leaving this in because I was going to say this somewhere regardless, and having it here at least says 'yes, I'm aware of my discrepancy' as opposed to posting opposite viewpoints in two separate places.)</span></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;">Does the world have a responsibility to define virginity in general, in order to calculate milestones and have everyone on the same page simply as far as what words and terms mean? Another friend, P, said<i> 'If the dictionary, world-wide accepted definition of losing virginity was "when a person considers themselves to have lost sexual innocence" do you know how many teen pregnancies that would help avoid in my hometown, due to the stigma of "being a virgin"?'</i></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;">And does Glee have a responsibilty to define Kurt and Blaine's loss of virginity, when it is unquestionable as to what it means in regards to Finn and Rachel's? Is it more politically correct to define it, or for them not to define it? </span></span></div></div>Nataliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04859638225493801704noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1958949944432225659.post-8883058458320065822011-11-02T15:02:00.000+11:002011-11-02T15:02:35.407+11:003x03 - Asian F<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span style="background: white; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">Hiatus is over today and I realised I never posted my thoughts about Asian F! So while I watch and write my thoughts on the new episode for Hypable’s recap, my write-up of 3.03 is here:</span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span style="background: white; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">Major storylines - </span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><b><span style="background: white; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">Mercedes:</span></b><span style="background: white; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"> I don't get her deal. Are they meant to be saying that she's legitimately sick or hurt, or is she faking, lazy, or slacking off when the rest of them are working hard? If she really is sick or hurt by the physical work, is it meant to be because of her weight or fitness? </span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span style="background: white; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">I really, really hate her boyfriend. Like, a lot. He’s supportive, yeah, but to the point that he disregards her actual feelings about things outside competition. And you know what? Yes, Mercedes, people have told you that you're better than Rachel - on many occasions, with certain performances - you know who has mainly told you that? RACHEL, in her own weird ways. Also, why is it that her boyfriend's confidence in her has made her so apparently changed and mature and powerful, or whatever they said about her audition with Spotlight? (which I found a. boring and b. in no way a showcase to prove her a good Maria) Not that I really care either way, because I hate her, but her self-confidence shouldn't just be about a guy, right? She doesn't need other people to believe in her for her to believe in herself - no one ever got success that way. Yet she never had that drive on her own, has admitted it to Rachel in the past. She's naturally good and wants automatic credit for that, but when it comes down to it she isn't driven enough to work for what she wants.</span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span style="background: white; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">Her attitude to Rachel when they are offered callbacks is just vile. She's known Rachel for three years and Rachel's little comment about how it can't appear as if they're just giving her the part is much in line with her comment last episode about assuming Mr Schue meant she'd be directing the musical - it's a defense mechanism, just little bits of her crazy fantasy coming out of her mouth, and when they're shot down she takes it quietly. Someone who's known her for that long, who has become her friend, should be aware of that, it should produce no more than an eyeroll. But Mercedes' response towards her when Rachel offers her congratulations is just gross, and it gets so much worse in the next booty camp scene, where she can't do the moves, and when Will asks her if she even practiced, her response is not "yes, of course" it's just "stop picking on me, blah blah Rachel, I've outgrown all of you. *knocks over mic stand*" It is an absolutely horrid and un-called for moment, like it just makes me say "what the fuck is wrong with you?"</span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span style="background: white; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">This leads into the Dreamgirls dream sequence, which is probably the best and most ‘realistic’ surreal scene Glee has ever done. Now, it's no secret I really don't like anything about Mercedes, including her voice. It's fine, but it isn't, to me, in any way special or noticeable. A lot of black girls can sing like that and that style, to me, while good quality, technically flawless, is bland. Nothing she has ever done has moved me. It bores me and even on the Glee Live tour, her solo was the one where I'd tune out and check my phone. But aside from her voice - I have NEVER liked her character. So it made me very happy to see her being called out - particularly the fact that Kurt was involved, because I feel they have definitely outgrown their friendship and that it was a pretty shallow friendship to begin with. They stuck with each other when they literally had no one else, but it started out creepy (with Mercedes thinking they were dating) and really came to a head in Substitute, I believe, for two reasons - Kurt saying Mercedes is using him as a replacement boyfriend, and Mercedes tuning out at dinner when Kurt and Blaine were discussing gay rights. That was the moment when I gave her the red card and it upset me so much that Blaine felt he had to say "let's talk about something we're all interested in" - it's like, bitch, this kid is meant to be your best friend and you don't care about his basic human rights - particularly you coming from a minority that, less than 50 years ago, also did not have basic human rights? Cool, so you'll just tune out? That's fine. Go home. I will never forgive her for that.</span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span style="background: white; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">Anyway, "It's All Over" was pretty awesome - I like that they twisted around the parts without changing the lyrics to create those awkward Brittany/Santana and Kurt/Finn moments. I liked that they had Puck slightly on her side, seeing as they always had a weird kind of connection. It was kind of weird that they changed people's names from the original lyric, yet still referenced Mercedes as "Effie" - and also, in Dreamgirls, the reason behind Effie's illness and slacking ends up being because she was pregnant... which is of course making fandom wonder if they're doing that with Mercedes, which I do not believe. However I do want to know if her illness/weakness is real or if she just complains more than everyone else.</span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span style="background: white; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">The diva-off has honestly been done so many times before that I tuned out a little, but Kurt – honestly, if you think you’re going to be talking about this for the rest of your lives, you can’t have a very interesting life planned. Both girls were good, but the cutting between means neither really got the chance to show off their performance onscreen. I disagree with Rachel’s statement that Mercedes was better than her – she was about equal. My favourite thing about the entire situation was supportive-boyfriend!Finn.</span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span style="background: white; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">Rachel’s reaction to the double-casting genuinely impressed me – I thought she’d take it much worse. She does that little defense/fantasy thing I mentioned above at first, but, again, when corrected, takes it quietly and graciously. Whereas Mercedes’ reaction was just… so horrid. I don’t get it – does she think that she won the role, that everyone thought she was better, but they double-cast because no one wanted to tell Rachel “no”? Because I don’t feel that was the case at ALL. Artie’s right – it is a “stupid pride thing” and if she’d rather let that get in the way of having fun and peforming then good riddance to her.</span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><b><span style="background: white; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">Emma and Will:</span></b><span style="background: white; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"> First of all, I actually wanted to throw myself under a truck when I realised that Will was going to show Emma his porn. Please no more references to Will's penis ever. Please? I don't like that he keeps making these little hints and barbs about having sex with her. And "kept me off of Craigslist"? Really? Are you seriously that randy? But why is it a shock that Emma has a stash of wedding magazines anyway? Remember how she was actually engaged to one guy, and hosted a wedding just to cancel it last-minute? Of course you don't. But anyway, the storyline with her parents was actually surprisingly well-done given the ridiculous “ginger supremacist” premise. They actually, somehow, made that somewhat workable and realistic, and Will calling them out was good - though probably added to Emma's anxiety, however he should not have put Emma through that in the first place after she’d asked him not to. Does no one on this show ever communicate outside the moments we see them on screen? (see: Kurt/Blaine also) Also - didn’t Emma’s OCD stem from falling into the runoff at a dairy? Wasn’t that a thing? Oh Glee, even when you manage to make something realistic and touching, you fuck it up by making it contradict your own canon. LOVE YOU SO MUCH, GLEE. “Fix You” was such a waste of a brilliant song – they could have done that at competition, all chanting in unison on the chorus, it would have been haunting, but they gave it to Will… sigh… and while it was nicely done, with the prayers and cutting over the casting announcements and all, I am a little sick of Will’s attitude about “fixing” Emma. He may have her best interests at heart, but he’s very forceful about it in a way that I do not feel is helpful or healthy for someone so fragile.</span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><b><span style="background: white; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">Mike:</span></b><span style="background: white; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"> I feel like I can't comment too much on his storyline without dealing without addressing racial stereotypes of a minority I don't belong to and therefore have no right to pass judgement on. I don't know if his father's behaviour is realistic or not - because it's Glee, i'm going to guess not, especially the specific dialogue used, however I can understand the issue of any student being held back from extra-curriculars because of academics. I think Harry Shum Jr did a great job reacting genuinely and emotionally to his on-screen father, and that scene of him dancing alone in the studio is quite amazing. I wish there was a way to have shown his inner monologue without making him look like he was hallucinating, but the points were so valid - especially about the threat of injury, which was something a dancer friend of mine was dealing with at the exact time the episode aired. The Tina fantasy was a bit weird, as was her previous scene with him - it's like nearly every line they give her is exposition and not very natural, which is a shame. They do it in the choir room scenes as well sometimes, they give her lines that are basically to explain the situation to the audience, like "so it's a _____" which is getting kind of old. She needs stronger plots, especially if she is one of the few remaining cast members still at McKinley in season 4.</span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span style="background: white; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">But anyway. Mike's actual audition is amazing. I've seen some arguments about the song choice, because in the film "Cool" is a song done after Riff dies, and that's where the very famous floorwork/kneepad choreography comes from, but in the actual stage show it IS Riff's song, so, whatever. He looked amazing and sounded fine - definitely passable for that role in a high school show and I seriously hope we get to see him and Blaine act together as Riff and Tony. At the end, when Bieste comments about him wasting his time teaching the footballers the choreography, his response is one of those moments of Glee where for a second I feel like I'm watching a genuine drama show - perfect emotional delivery. I can't wait to see Harry act in more serious roles, such as the upcoming <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1967697/" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">White Frog.</span></a> And the bit with his mother was so sweet, though I found it a bit convenient that her dream had been dancing too. Surely sometime in the past 17 years, this had been discussed, as Mike’s dancing has not been a secret, at least since he joined Glee?</span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><b><span style="background: white; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">Kurt/Brittany/Rachel/presidency:</span></b><span style="background: white; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"> Although Kurt's line about Brittany "whimsically hopping and skipping" alongside his running made me laugh out loud, I think that with Santana behind her, helping her translate and express her ideas, Brittany legitimately is making some good points and appealing to the female population to vote will probably work. I loved Sue and Emma awkwardly dancing in the pep rally. But Rachel.. oh, Rachel. You are incredibly irrational and your fear drives you to do very stupid things, I understand, but your running was really not cool – specifically as you were the one to suggest and encourage Kurt in the first place. But here’s the thing – when Kurt confronts her about her candidacy, it was him I was rolling my eyes at. Rachel was desperate and selfish and thoughtless, and she’s wrong, but she was NOT being malicious, but Kurt’s spiel about how if she won it would help her college chances but if he won it would make a difference for kids like him? Please. <i>Please.</i> This is the first word we are hearing about his campaign having any altruistic motives – he originally applied for exactly the same reason as her, and it’s only now, when challenged, that he has invented some moral high ground to take in order to fight with her. I’m not saying that it isn’t a valid platform for him to use, or something he wouldn’t be concerned about, but that was NOT his original motive and he’s acting like it was in order to be superior, and I kind of want to smack him. Yeah, Rachel’s in the wrong, but she’s so socially unaware that she isn’t secretive or manipulative about it, she doesn’t hide her ambition – Kurt tries to give himself moral superiority through emotionally manipulating and cutting others down. They both need to knock it off. And does Kurt really think that Rachel wouldn’t have his issues at heart if she did win? She has a rainbow flag in her locker. Even though her and Kurt are having issues right now, this is yet another aspect of why they have the potential to be legitimate best friends forever, whereas Mercedes will end up being someone Kurt forgets. Rachel was probably educated in and supporting gay rights before even Kurt was.</span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><b><span style="background: white; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">Little things:</span></b><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span style="background: white; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">- Does Figgins still seriously believe Tina is a vampire? Does she dress up as one to get him to do her bidding, or was that a figment of his imagination?</span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span style="background: white; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">- Bieste is so fucking awesome, she is one of my favorite characters and one of the only people on this show who talks sense.</span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span style="background: white; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">- Kurt/Blaine: I'm going to try and not spend too long on this because they weren't an A-plot, but their one scene didn't sit well with me. I'm pretty sure we were meant to find it cute. I didn't find it cute. I didn't exactly say "oh, it wasn't genuine" or think it was sinister as much as I know some other people were saying about it, but what stuck with me was the "You always zig when I think you're about to zag." line - THAT just left me thinking "oh, awesome, so Blaine expected Kurt to be shitty about it? That's healthy." Giving Blaine support, the flowers, it was the right move on Kurt's part, for sure, but the fact it was an afterthought is what still worries me. it's good that he came to that conclusion, whether it was because he really felt it or because he knew objectively, despite jealousy, it was the right thing to do. But it was once again an afterthought, whereas Blaine's choices always seem to be Kurt's happiness first. It's his automatic compulsion, and the fact that Kurt's automatic compulsion isn't Blaine is what makes me think that dynamic can never really be good, because I still don't think you can LEARN to be automatically compelled to be selfless. At the end, when the cast list is announced, Kurt really seems to be struggling - he fakes happy for Blaine but is clearly still upset, and that is just... shouldn't they be talking about this? Is this going to keep being a plot point? Equally important, is that little moment on the stairs where Blaine held back from PDA going to be a plot point?</span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span style="background: white; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><br />
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<!--[endif]--></span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span style="background: white; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">- I liked the booty camp scene where Will is encouraging Finn and is all "you can do it!" and Puck is like "no he can't" as like, a motivating bro move. It's a really cool and realistic moment of Puck and Finn's friendship. </span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span style="background: white; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">- All of Rachel's dress and hair choices this episode - flawless and I want them. </span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: white; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">- This was hyped as the best Glee episode <i>ever</i>. Cory Monteith said in an interview that if we did not feel that way he would give us all $20. Cory Monteith, you owe me $20.</span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>Nataliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04859638225493801704noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1958949944432225659.post-10710155694971535582011-10-10T02:59:00.000+11:002011-10-10T02:59:36.674+11:00I lost something today.<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; line-height: 15px;"><i><a href="http://thewilliambeckettblog.com/post/11193533273/the-end-of-tai-and-the-future">"I’m having a hard time starting this..."</a></i><br />
<br />
Me too, Bill.<br />
<br />
It would be pretty difficult to know me at all and <i>not</i> be aware of what The Academy Is... were to me. Most have you have attended a show with me at some point, or read my LJ after a tour, or seen pictures. You know. But I'd like, if it's alright, to tell the story again, one last time.<br />
<br />
And I guess I should just start at the beginning, or at least, the beginning for me.<br />
<br />
I first saw TAI in May 2006 - not too long after I moved to the UK. It was the two Brixton Academy shows of the <i>Black Clouds and Underdogs</i> Fall Out Boy tour. I was - and still am - a huge, deeply emotionally invested Fall Out Boy fan, and this was to </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; line-height: 15px;">be my first time seeing them. In fact, one of the first things I had done upon moving to the UK was to buy the first three FOB albums - <i>Evening Out With Your Girlfriend, Take This To Your Grave</i> and <i>From Under The Cork Tree</i> - because when I had left Australia they were not yet distributed there. Anyway. I knew of TAI, I knew about their relationships and collaboration with the other bands within the FBR family - <i>Sophomore Slump or Comeback of the Year</i>, which William sang on, was my favourite FOB song - and I knew and liked the several songs I'd heard off of TAI's album, <i>Almost Here.</i></span></span><br />
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So I was really looking forward to seeing Fall Out Boy, and quite excited to see TAI as well. I lined up early and was on the front barricade for the show. After the first opener, The Hush Sound, TAI took the stage, opened with <i>Attention,</i> and turned my world upside down.<br />
<br />
I had NEVER seen a live band like this. They were so powerful in the most undefinable way. I remember spending a good part of that set with my hands unconsciously clamped over my mouth, gasping. They were magic. I'd always thought, from the first time I saw a picture of William, that he must be quite special and unusual. He didn't look or sound like anyone in the other bands associated with the "scene" TAI were a part of. He looked like someone from another time, another era. All of them did, a bit - rather than emo, they looked kind of indie/hippie/glam.. very 70s, but not like they were <i>trying</i> to be. And I come from 70s music and glam rock - before I got into the scene, I listened to almost no current music - the most notable exception being Placebo, who are not exactly shining examples of their own era, either.<br />
<br />
FOB were brilliant, and solid, and their live shows were nearly always brilliant and solid, but they did what I expected them to do. TAI were a complete shock to my system - I had not been prepared for them whatsoever. They were a revelation. I was an instant convert. They were what I had been waiting for - what I didn't even know I'd been waiting for until that moment.<br />
<br />
It's funny how you fall in love. I know TAI aren't technically the best band in the world or anything. I know they're not the most ground-breaking. I personally think they're quite individual, but people who aren't very aware of them group them in with a scene that doesn't really, sonically or thematically, include them - they're more there by association and friendships. (This could honestly said for any of the first Big Five of the Decaydance family - Fall Out Boy. Gym Class Heroes. The Academy Is. Panic! At The Disco. Cobra Starship. None of these bands are technically in any way alike yet all get lumped in.) TAI aren't even the band that I have had the most desperate, crying-late-at-night responses to. <i>I just fucking liked them.</i> Something about them fit me, in the most perfect and positive way. A combination of their sound, their style, their live show, their lyrics and the boys themselves... everything about being a fan of theirs was an incredibly positive and fulfilling experience. And that first show - They were just... explosive. William - all legs and hair, jumping around without a guitar, he was a firecracker and so elegant, he made me think of Marc Bolan, even Bowie. That album - the songs were poetic and emotional - wistful without being vein-openingly tragic, snarky and snarly without being angry noise, hopeful without being preachy and inane. They had a touch of nostalgia about them, despite it being a first album, and they were clever, so clever - every single word counted.<br />
<br />
They were absolutely perfect to me.<br />
<br />
The next night was just as good, though I knew what to expect this time. I'd seen them wandering around the venue that day, as well, and been too nervous, overwhelmed, to speak to them. I remember very clearly Bill hanging about in flares, knee-scarf and an old blazer and couldn't believe he was a product of the 21st century.<br />
<br />
I followed them closely online after that - their summer on Warped Tour, TAI TV, Tom leaving - by the time I got to see them again, it was nearly a year later - March 2007 and it was their headline UK tour. At this point, I'd been through quite a harsh time the previous winter, and that tour was the first time in a long while that I'd spent with my friends, particularly some who had been involved in that drama. But it was wonderful. I attended four shows - Oxford, Leeds, Portsmouth and London - and that week was perfect. I rebuilt quite a few of those friendships back up to their former strength, made new ones, and got to meet the band themselves for the first time. They were lovely and it progressed quickly from awkwardly asking to take a picture to having long, genuine conversations while hanging out before doors, or at the bus after the show. I remember one very clearly - before the show in Portsmouth. It was unseasonably hot for March in the UK and I remember I was wearing a Placebo t shirt and had taken off my shoes. I remember being leant up against the warm brick wall of the venue and talking to William for a good long while about books and music - I know Adam was around for a while as well because they both commented on my shirt and talked about how much they loved them and the slight influence on their upcoming record <i>Santi</i>, of which they'd been playing a couple of songs. But that conversation with William must have lasted a good hour and I remember thinking afterwards "damn, if we had met in a different way, I think that boy and I would make really good friends." I believe he guest-listed me for that show, as well, for some reason.. maybe I hadn't originally intended to come down that day and it was sold out? I can't remember. But despite the fact I was becoming chill with them off-stage, the live shows still thrilled and excited me and the fact they were <i>so nice</i> to me meant I was basically the biggest fangirl ever.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; line-height: 15px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Later that year, after <i>Santi</i> came out, (and for the record, I LOVE<i> Santi,</i> it is the record I empathise with the most, the one that makes me cry) and after I moved back to Australia, they came Down Under for the first time. This was both really cool and also terrifying, because Australian fans are crazy. Like, yes, I'm an Australian fan, but en masse they are overwhelming. In airports and at the venues they demanded a LOT of attention and watching the band get mobbed in a way that I had never seen before really upset me - not because <i>I</i> wasn't getting to talk to them, because I still did, but just because I didn't like seeing them being treated like that. It made me realise how much I really loved them for themselves, not just for the entertainment or excitement I got from them. But kids in Australia just get really over the top - maybe because no one ever comes here, so when ANY band does they get treated like the Beatles - and even though there was some over-zealous behaviour off-stage, it meant the shows themselves were intense in a really good way. The crowds certainly weren't boring. Apart from the mobbing, I loved that tour, and I met many people on it who became my friends, and at the time I didn't have any Australian friends. I went to Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane, and from watching the soundcheck in Adelaide to the last number of the Brisbane show when William came into the crowd and grabbed onto me, they went out of their way to be good to me. But seeing them play the Roundhouse in Sydney, where I had grown up going to shows, and totally dominate it - I was so proud of them. I remember at some point on that tour saying that at the end of it, I would have seen TAI eleven times. And I thought that was like, <i>a lot.</i><br />
<br />
That was August. Sometime soon after that, Amy and I decided to meet up in America for three weeks and go to the <i>Sleeping With Giants</i> headline tour. Neither of us had done anything this big for a band before - tours around our own country, yes, but not this. Amy is a great friend of mine from the UK. I met her through a different band, but TAI are her band as well, and she's known them for around 2 years longer than me. However, she has never been bitchy or elitist about this, and planning that trip was one of the most exciting things ever, for both of us.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; line-height: 15px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">If planning the tour was exciting, it was nothing compared to actually getting there. It was my first time in the States, and I believe it was Amy's as well, though that might be wrong. Besides visiting Chicago and New York for fun, we went to nine shows - Poughkeepsie NY, Hartford CT (on Halloween), Philadelphia PA, University of Connecticut, Hampton Beach NH, Albany NY, Long Island NY, Worcester MA, and Toronto, Canada. Each show was unique and special in some way. Amy and I were a little nervous and embarrassed about seeing the band off-stage, we were not sure what their reaction would be to us having travelled so far and obviously spent so much money to see them. Whether it was creepy. But no. They were golden. I will never forget the look on William's face when he saw us and pointed us out in the crowd and the first show. But it was all of them - even Mike, who at that point I didn't think even knew who I was, came up to us and said lovely things about us being there that just had us at a loss for words. I think Adam's first words to me upon seeing me were asking if I had noticed them playing Placebo on the PA in between sets, retaining and throwing back to that conversation on the UK tour in March. We could barely believe any of it.<br />
<br />
I loved every second of that trip - every town, every train and Greyhound ride, every weird hotel. Again, we made friends - especially Lacey, who has remained one of Amy's very closest friends now - and we saw Jess and Beth Ann, who had done what we did in reverse - American fans who had come to the UK in March to see that tour. I also met Chris for the first time, on that trip, and saw him speak. I learnt a lot about the USA and about travel planning, but most of all, over that tour, all those 2007 tours, I came to see just how wonderful the TAI guys were, not just as musicians but as human beings. I saw how kind and patient and considerate they were with all the fans, how they would truly try to respond to requests, get people without tickets into shows, never cut anyone off for a picture or a signature, how during shows they would pick out fans that they'd met in the crowdS and play up to them, make them feel special.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 15px;">But the shows. The shows were still the core thing. The more relaxed I got talking to the band and being chill and conversing normally, the more I started to worry that they may think that we were coming out because we thought it was cool to be "known" by them or something like that - that we weren't in it for the right reasons. And at one of the last shows of our SWG trip, in Long Island, I voiced this fear to William, something like "I hope you know how much this means to us, I realise when we talk to you we're not necessarily talking <i>about</i> the music and how we feel about that and I hope you know that that really is our priority, we're not just here to hang out..." </span></span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 15px;">His response, which I am not going to quote verbatim, was one of the most touching things ever said to me, and talking about it still makes Amy and I weepy. But basically said he knew, that we didn't have to explain that, he felt that we were genuine, he could tell that we "got" it when not everyone actually does, and lots of other beautiful, beautiful things that made me feel so appreciated. I am at my best, I think, when I am a fan. I am emotional but not creative, and that is where the most earnest fan behavior comes from - people who cannot express themselves and who find others who have expressed it for them. Unless you have experienced it, you can not understand how it feels to have an artist who you feel you connect with say <i>"Yes. That's it. You understand. Not everyone does, but you do."</i> Amy and I got in the taxi to leave the venue that night and we both just started to cry.</span></span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; line-height: 15px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">In 2008, after becoming more interested in behind the scenes work in the music industry, I took the opportunity to go to America for four months to travel and then work on the Vans Warped Tour. A friend's band were on the first half and I managed to jump over to help out another band for the remainder. In May, before Warped started, I got to see TAI play Bamboozle in New Jersey - my 21st time seeing them. It was crazy, the biggest show I'd ever seen them play, and I managed to go to their signing and say hi, and they were friendly and kind and pleased. I saw them around a couple of times in NYC as well in the month I stayed there - they were recording there and we occasionally went to the same bars and gigs - and I warned them that'd see me around that summer on Warped.<br />
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I saw "warned" because, while I was excited by the chance to see them play, hopefully a lot - once again, like coming to America for SWG, I worried desperately that they would not be comfortable that I was around, that it was too much, or that it would be misconstrued as me following them around for the summer, which was not the truth. They were a huge bonus, but NOT the reason I had come to work on the tour. Once again, my worries were completely stupid. They were totally cool with it, couldn't care less, and I got to spend 8 weeks seeing them play nearly every day. I would organise to take my lunch or dinner break in order to catch their set whenever possible. Amy and Lacey did a road trip that summer and, after we met up at an off-day Decaydance headline show in New Orleans, they attended a lot of Warped tour as well. I got them guest passes, so most of these sets we watched from side of stage. Fran and Nettie and Megan too. But the best was always when TAI played first (Warped has a rotating schedule) and we would get down the front before the gates opened, and watch them properly, from the barricade. William never failed to thank me - never - for the times when I would be down the front in the crowd even though I had an AAA pass. I did like watching from side of stage as well, watching the effect they had on the crowd, watching the technical aspects.. I just loved everything. Out of 46 dates, I probably got to 35 of their sets. It never got old.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; line-height: 15px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Quite soon on Warped, though, something else started to happen, which was very odd to me. I would speak to the guys after their set, sometimes, and I would acknowledge them if I saw them in passing or at the parties at night, but I mainly tried to stay the fuck out of their way, because they knew I was a fan - not like, <i>"oh dude, your band rocks" "yeah, I love your band too"</i>, but a real, legitimate,<i> "can I get a picture with you," "I flew to America to see your band"</i> FAN. And I didn't want them to feel intruded upon. But then, they started to approach me - particularly William. He would come up to me and chat, spend a little time with me. About ten days into the tour, we were side of stage watching Jack's Mannequin play, and completely unprompted, he asks me if I would like to listen to their new (unreleased) album with him and tell him what I thought. I remember very clearly that I didn't even say anything, just wrapped my arms around his waist and hugged him. A few days later I was shut in the back lounge of TAI's bus, listening to<i> Fast Times at Barrington High</i> off of William's iPod. He sat with me, curled up on the couch and I remember not knowing what to look at while we listened together, so I was staring at the soles of his shoes. I couldn't believe this was happening, I was a little scared and incredibly touched.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; line-height: 15px;">The summer continued, and I felt a little less weird spending time with him. I remember - sort of - a particular party off-site where I was probably the drunkest I had ever been - my first time having Jagermeister - and he was a bit wasted too and I remember us kind of hanging on to each other for most of the evening, and talking into each other's faces at what I'm sure we thought was a normal volume but was probably actually shouting. I remember another night in... I want to say it was Cleveland, on the Jack's Mannequin bus.. and another at the Chicago Angels and Kings after-party where he introduced me to his lovely girlfriend Christine and a couple of his family members. But we saw each other around nearly every day and it just became... normal. And I was always reminded of when we first met, and that conversation where I'd thought<i> "if I'd met this guy as an equal we'd be friends".</i> But I was highly paranoid of over-stepping and very concious that I <i>was</i> a fan and no matter how much you get along with someone, that's a dynamic that doesn't really go away. Until one night he saw me stomping around and came over to talk to me when I was in a particularly stressed and upset mood due to a stupid thing with a guy, and I took it out on him. Quite badly. I ended up snapping at him and almost yelling at him, saying he didn't have to feel obligated to do the polite thing like after gigs, that I wasn't going to be any less of a fan if he didn't come up to me whenever he saw me, </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; line-height: 15px;">that I was letting him off the hook</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; line-height: 15px;">. He then read ME the riot act about how he doesn't do anything he doesn't want to do, that he didn't feel obligated, that he was never ON the hook. It was kind of an over-dramatic moment on both our parts but we ended up being excessively complimentary to each other, talked about how much we liked each other, and we hugged it out, and after that I was much more comfortable thinking of him as a friend.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 15px;">My favourite TAI-related memory that summer, I think, was an off-day towards the end, where the Decaydance bands again had a side-show, this time in Missoula, Montana. I adored this town, it had great vibes, and I had a great day with my girl friends at lunch and hanging at the hotel. The show was very cool, and I remember standing on a chair in the crowd to watch TAI's set and watching Cobra's from the stage, and when William came to watch as well he took me by surprise and hugged me from behind. I then spent the rest of the evening sitting backstage with him, down in the bowels of the theatre, just talking. Despite the fact many of his friends in various bands were there, hanging around in the dressing rooms, despite the fact that Gym Class were playing, he sat with me at a table in the main green room, drinking and talking, for hours. That conversation, and what he talked about during it, is when I really realised that we probably </span><i style="line-height: 15px;">were</i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 15px;"> friends. He'd always had a habit of dropping weirdly personal bits of info - stuff that I'd internally say </span><i style="line-height: 15px;">"er, should you be saying that to a fan"</i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 15px;"> about, but this conversation was like</span><i style="line-height: 15px;"> "whoa, okay."</i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 15px;"> - very candid. This took place after the aforementioned slight meltdown I'd had, so I knew we were okay, but I was still surprised and flattered at how comfortable and personal he had become with me, and the fact he was choosing to spend the evening with me. When the venue kicked us out, it was raining, and he gave me his jacket so I could go back to my bus, which was further away than his.</span></span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; line-height: 15px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Warped Tour ended (after a very weird and awkward moment in which I gave him a letter thanking him for being so good to me, and he said some wonderful things about me that I am embarrassed to repeat) and we all flew back to Australia, because TAI and Cobra were supporting on a P!ATD headlining arena tour there, that I was attending as a fan. This was a great tour - Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide again - it was weird to see both TAI and Cobra rock out these stadiums and be pursued by the mad Aussie fan base again, after spending 8 weeks in such close quarters with them. But it was also awesome, and made me proud and happy. At the end of the tour, when I was <i>really</i> saying bye, that was a bit hard. I remember being at the airport in Adelaide, which is about the size of a two-bedroom apartment, about to fly back to Sydney and the tour was flying on tour Perth. I remember Gabe Saporta being like "yo Natalie, you coming to Perth?" and when I said no, his face got sad and he hugged me - and I don't hug Gabe. Pretty much ever. I only, like, do bro-knuckles with him. I really did not like saying goodbye to William, but he gave me his email address and a lot of hugs, and that was that.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; line-height: 15px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">They came back to Australia a year later - August 2009 - with Anberlin, and my paranoia had set in again. I had exchanged a few emails with William, but not for a while, and I was so afraid that in the past year they had formulated the idea that actually, no, I <i>was</i> creepy, that at the first show when my friends were meeting the guys, I sort of... casually hid behind a tree. This obviously failed, and was obviously stupid, and they were wonderful - not just Bill, but all of them, even Tony, their tour manager, whom I had been absolutely petrified of for years. That tour was a really awesome mix of being a fan and being a friend, I spent every show except Sydney with my fan-friends, queuing and watching from the crowd, etc, I even went to the meet and greets, but I spent the last show, Sydney, backstage. I got to officially interview Bill at that show, which was pretty special, and was a wonderful conversation aside from being an interview. He also wrote a beautiful piece of prose in my notebook. The set was amazing, that tour, even though they weren't headlining. It was the first time I heard them play a lot of the <i>Fast Times</i> songs, and those songs that will always be special to me because I got to hear them first. Leo and I went to the afterparty of that show, and left the party with Bill and Tony to go to a quieter pub. It was a ridiculously long and great night and I think I have a picture somewhere of Bill and I drunk in Taylor Square at about 2am. That was the last time I saw them play.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; line-height: 15px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">I have never "gotten over" them. I have never been jaded about them as a band, ever. No matter how much time I spent with them or how familiar I had become, the second they go onstage as The Academy Is..., they still thrill and excite me, I would still rather be on the barricade in the crowd than anywhere else on the planet. 32 shows, plus Warped Tour - about 70 performances in total. Every single time, it isn't "lol those dudes" it is "that's the best live band in the world". They still did it for me. Every time. They have been worth every bit of time, effort and money I have ever put into being at their shows on three continents. It wouldn't matter if I'd never met them, if they didn't know who I was. I wouldn't care. The shows would still be the same. From the first time to the very last, they still exploded my heart. And the friends I made would still be the same. I'm just extremely lucky that by loving a band, I got to also make friends with this awesome boy.. he was super into them as well, and getting to talk to him at shows was always really cool, he really got what they were about. His name happens to be William. Cheesy, maybe, but that's how it always felt when actually talking with him about his own music - like we were two fans of the same thing, analysing it together. But William onstage was still always that firecracker, never some dude I knew a little. That band, right to the last, always had the power to make me scream and cheer and cry and I was never ashamed of that or above it. I was proud.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; line-height: 15px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">I keep thinking about all the things... all the memories and anecdotes, ridiculous incidents with my friends, when we went to shows. It was thinking about one of these - rather than thinking about a gig or a song - that made me start to cry, when I heard the news today. I broke down because I remembered a funny incident in a car on an deserted road somewhere in Connecticut in 2007, driving between shows. Being a fan of this band has given me so much. More than I could ever explain, define or remember.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; line-height: 15px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">A part of me died today. I will always support all of these boys, and I'm in contact with William and I know I'll see him perform again. But I'll never see him as the frontman of The Academy Is... again. I will never have that beautiful disconnect that allowed me to be the purist, most excited fan, riding off of what they did. Nothing is ever going to replace that. Ever.<br />
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I hate that it seems impossible for me to love anything without it eventually being tainted with bitterness or pain. The amount of things that i'm emotionally invested in which make me happy, without a side order of sadness, is now pretty much non-existent.<br />
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I've been crying nearly the whole time writing this blog - Butcher's tweet-fest of trauma really did not help. He touched on a lot of what I was trying to say here, particularly when he said "If you were a fan then you know how much TAI committed." This is really what I was trying to express. If you were not lucky enough to be a fan of this band, you missed out on something incredibly special. Because there is no one like them. No one.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 15px;">Epilogue - I actually saw William a couple of months ago, in July. </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; line-height: 15px;">He was playing an acoustic solo show in Chicago and I attended. It was marvellous. He seemed amused and delighted to see me there and he spent a lot of time talking to the fans afterwards - this was nice to see, as when I'd last seen him, two years ago, he'd talked about being a little tapped out on this aspect. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; line-height: 15px;">And then I got weirdly overwhelmed - for some reason I get incredibly fucking depressed and start feeling like I'm going to cry. Like really, out of nowhere, hit-by-a-truck emo-ness. I think it hit me that I hadn't seen him in nearly 2 years and that I'd actually<i> missed</i> him and that this was a one-off and I wouldn't see him again anytime soon, and just, everything he's meant to me and how he's always been, right from the first time we really met properly. </span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; line-height: 15px;">In a move that was nearly completely out of control, I shamefully ended up crying all over him. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; line-height: 15px;">I prefaced it with "I might cry and if I do I'm really sorry" because I could feel it in my voice and he asked "why would you cry?" and then I kind of let loose on him emotionally. I've never done that before, I've cried in shows and he's seen it but I have never started to cry while talking to him. I was basically going giving my life story and about how I'd lived in UK and now Australia was lonely and missed all of my friends, and how I had such distance restricing me from being around the people I actually wanted to be around, and I how I had trouble making new friends, and how when I saw him I'd realised how much I'd missed <i>him </i>as well, and how in another situation we could have been normal friends. And I was saying emo crap like<i>"do you know what you are to me?"</i> and <i>"You are an amazing human being",</i> and he denies it, of course, and I'm like<i> "shut up, I know you don't think it but you really are" </i>- this is all really disjointed and not a direct transcript of the conversation, but just to give you the vibe that was discussed. And I kept saying<i> "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, it isn't fair to just put that on you for my own catharsis and be like 'here's a bunch of heavy shit, deal with it.'"</i> He wasn't just standing there like a struck fish listening to me blubber, he started saying some pretty emo things to me as well, but I just can't. I can't even talk about it. At one point I was just blubbering 'I'm so sorry, I've just had a really shit year.' while pretty much crying into his neck, and he was like 'yeah, me too'. He was going on about how everything for him had been bad, but finally music was being okay again and hoping because he'd gotten <i>that</i> to work again it would help make<i> everything else</i> work, and of course in response to that I was all "*sobs* you need to be happy you deserve to be happy *sobs*"</span></span><br />
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But he spoke about, I don't know, finding the right direction, and he was talking about how good tonight had been, and how he's been online more and getting back in touch with fans, and how that felt and I'm just like.. "you didn't realise people were still there?" And of course at a couple of points he had to<i> destroy my life</i> and start being like 'the way you've always been there' and thanking me and 'you have always, always understood me." And all I could say was "thank you for being every aspect of who you are and what you've given me."<br />
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I wasn't sobbing. Not like big wracking sobs. But as soon as I started talking, I started crying, like tears rolling down my face and voice all wobbly, and saying "I'm sorry, I don't know why I'm doing this" and I think I managed to pull myself together and be like "I don't think I've ever told you, so I just wanted to tell you" re: me actually thinking he is spectacular.<br />
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I think I knew then that something was a bit wrong, but he was so positive about new material and new state of mind. It sounded like things HAD been wrong but had turned a corner. I guess they were too broke to fix.</span></span><br />
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</span>Nataliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04859638225493801704noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1958949944432225659.post-48565888334199983922011-10-04T17:59:00.000+11:002011-10-04T17:59:22.771+11:00To follow up that last post...<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">How could I forget this and not reference it? How? </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">As if I needed any more evidence..</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Kurt threw Defying Gravity because he cared more about his father than about getting the part.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">As I said before: <em>We have seen how love - the kind of love that makes you vulnerable - changes Kurt. Yet Blaine doesn't change him.</em></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">Mmmmhmmmm.</span>Nataliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04859638225493801704noreply@blogger.com0