Happy Year of the Rabbit everyone!
May your next year be fluffy, slightly confused and have lots of sex :P
Thursday, 3 February 2011
Tuesday, 1 February 2011
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies
I've been listening to a lot of audio books and one that I had a whole lot of fun with recently was Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. It maintains the original plot and characters from Pride and Prejudice, but it inserts a whole lot of zombie slaying/zombification into it.
It's a hilarious take on a classic novel . . . I guess you could think of it as a comedic literary remix. I looked past the idea that this might be a sacrilegious thing to do and just enjoyed myself with the arguments being settled by the edge of a katana and people bonding over the mutual slaying of the "unmentionables".
This novel seems to have spawned a whole range of follow ups . . . Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters for example. I'm not sure I'm going to delve any further than the first, however.
I'm getting a lot of mileage out of my Audible (Amazon's audio book service) account these days. I never could get through quite so many books on public transport (motion sickness anyone?) and it means I can listen to books even while I'm walking around etc.
It's a hilarious take on a classic novel . . . I guess you could think of it as a comedic literary remix. I looked past the idea that this might be a sacrilegious thing to do and just enjoyed myself with the arguments being settled by the edge of a katana and people bonding over the mutual slaying of the "unmentionables".
This novel seems to have spawned a whole range of follow ups . . . Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters for example. I'm not sure I'm going to delve any further than the first, however.
I'm getting a lot of mileage out of my Audible (Amazon's audio book service) account these days. I never could get through quite so many books on public transport (motion sickness anyone?) and it means I can listen to books even while I'm walking around etc.
Wednesday, 15 December 2010
Working with Youth Theatre
I've just finished a production with Ashfield Youth Theatre, called Older.
The production was written and performed by 12-16 year old high school students who live or are otherwise based around Sydney's Inner West.
Plot-wise, I found it to be influenced by Brave New World, Alice in Wonderland and a tiny bit of Equilibrium (minus the Gun Fu). A girl travels through time by accident to meet her future self who is scheduled to be euthenased as she's reached the end of her productive life and in the dystopian future, people are forced to "Go Gently" (that's the name of the drug in the play). Quite a mature story and really well put together into a 1 hour show.
http://www.myspace.com/ashfield_youth_theatre/blog/540685947
I was really impressed with how the show ended up. There's also something remarkably fulfilling in being a mentor to actors as they learn their craft. Even though I've never directed a show, I've learnt so much from putting together so many shows that I was able to teach a lot to the cast. I didn't realise how much I miss teaching and how good it makes you feel.
The production was written and performed by 12-16 year old high school students who live or are otherwise based around Sydney's Inner West.
Plot-wise, I found it to be influenced by Brave New World, Alice in Wonderland and a tiny bit of Equilibrium (minus the Gun Fu). A girl travels through time by accident to meet her future self who is scheduled to be euthenased as she's reached the end of her productive life and in the dystopian future, people are forced to "Go Gently" (that's the name of the drug in the play). Quite a mature story and really well put together into a 1 hour show.
http://www.myspace.com/ashfield_youth_theatre/blog/540685947
I was really impressed with how the show ended up. There's also something remarkably fulfilling in being a mentor to actors as they learn their craft. Even though I've never directed a show, I've learnt so much from putting together so many shows that I was able to teach a lot to the cast. I didn't realise how much I miss teaching and how good it makes you feel.
Friday, 10 December 2010
Crowded House
Last night I watched Crowded House's "final" performance on the Opera House steps.
Recently I decided to go back to listening to them . . . I found a greatest hits CD set from JB and have been playing it nearly non stop while I'm at home.
Neil Finn's depth of emotion in his music and lyrics is awesome. I never really listened to the band when I was younger . . . I was always searching for something more obscure and unheard of, prejudiced against anything that might have too much popular appeal. I've gladly gotten over that kind of thing now (although there are probably a lot of good reasons to be prejudiced against music that has widespread popular appeal . . . there's a lot of marketing and not a lot of creativity going around).
Anyway, here's my favourite . . . enjoy:
Recently I decided to go back to listening to them . . . I found a greatest hits CD set from JB and have been playing it nearly non stop while I'm at home.
Neil Finn's depth of emotion in his music and lyrics is awesome. I never really listened to the band when I was younger . . . I was always searching for something more obscure and unheard of, prejudiced against anything that might have too much popular appeal. I've gladly gotten over that kind of thing now (although there are probably a lot of good reasons to be prejudiced against music that has widespread popular appeal . . . there's a lot of marketing and not a lot of creativity going around).
Anyway, here's my favourite . . . enjoy:
Monday, 6 December 2010
Losing Chrome Tabs
I've become so used to my set of tabs popping up every time I start Chrome that when a tab disappears, I forget that it existed and I forget that I was in the middle of something on that very tab.
Occaisionally my blog is that tab . . . and two weeks go by without me posting anything . . .
I'll try to make up for that in the next couple of days . . . I've been reading a lot and listening to some music. More soon!
Occaisionally my blog is that tab . . . and two weeks go by without me posting anything . . .
I'll try to make up for that in the next couple of days . . . I've been reading a lot and listening to some music. More soon!
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