T'eyla Minh

Paul reminded me a couple of days after the event that I'd omitted something from my Sunset UK Tour write-up(s), which in turn also jogged my memory for another tiny thing I'd forgotten.

( Addendum )

In almost-related news, I think I'm almost inspired to make a start on my epistolary AU story after re-reading the outline yesterday. I've also made a start on my other, soulmate AU, at least on paper, but it needs a lot of tidying up. I've been pottering about with various bits and pieces lately and should really start typing some of them up...

Nothing else to report, except that I didn't get the job I went for. Got feedback this morning and it was very close, points-wise, between everyone - all the things I apparently should have said at interview I literally remembered about two hours after the event. I was struggling with a really bad sore throat and fighting off an inevitable cold on the day, so my brain wasn't functioning as highly as it should have been.

They advised me at the interview (and also today) that there were supposed to be three roles, but HR would only agree two initially. They have now agreed to recruit to the third post so it should reappear at some point, and they urged me to reapply if it does. I'm currently debating whether or not I will, but I'll see how I feel if/when it rolls around, and in any case start job-hunting afresh in January when all the Christmas stress is out of the way...

TBF, I kind of suspected I hadn't got it because I didn't get a phonecall about it (I was off sick Thursday/Friday with the aforesaid cold and subsequent migraine), so I didn't find out until I checked my emails this morning. Regardless, getting to interview achieved what I set out to do, which was to prove to myself that I do, in fact, have transferable skills.

Right, having spent the past I-dont-even-want-to-know how many minutes trying to get Semagic to work with LJ and DW to make cross-posting easier, here's a write-up from Friday night, when Paul and I went to see the new UK tour production of Sunset Boulevard, starring Ria Jones and Danny Mac. I'm hoping to do this in one go, but it may well end up being two separate entries (one for each Act, as last time) because it is, of course, an Eternal Onion and some of the stuff I wanted to mention will probably end up being quite wordy once I start properly thinking about it...

Anyway, for the uninitiated, Ria Jones was the person who originated the character of Norma (as she appears in the musical) in the original production of the show back in about 1992 at the Syndmonton Festival. She was also the understudy for Glenn Close in the London production last year, which is probably all you really need to know - except that from her programme shot she looks like the Norma in my head, though oddly not so much when actually in costume!

Danny Mac was a runner up on Strictly Come Dancing and other than that I know nothing about him, but he was appropriately pretty so that'll do for me. :P

Such being said, the audience seemed to comprise mostly Strictly fans and Ria Jones fanboys and a fair few Sunset fangirls - which is a vast improvement on when we saw it in London and the audience was mostly people who were only there to see Glenn Close in her West End debut with no concept of the actual show. (The same people who subsequently threw a hissy fit when Glenn Close was off sick and Ria Jones took her place, walking out before the show even started - but fie on them because they have no idea what they were missing.)

I very much suspect the reason for the sudden UK tour, so close off the back of the London show, is because (a) it was so popular (as it always is whenever it rolls back around!) and also (b) next year will be the show's 25th anniversary, so I'm hoping the tour is a run-up to a great big London show which will (fingers crossed!) be filmed and/or broadcast live and thus released on DVD. Because HOW AWESOME WOULD THAT BE? I'd love to see Ruthie Henshall as Norma, actually...

Right, that was a big of a digression, so here's the actual write-up. I will tackle this in the same way as the last one, scene by scene. I have made some rough (mostly illegible) notes to work from, scribbled down when I got home Friday night, so hopefully I won't forget anything!

( Sunset Boulevard UK Tour 2017 )

Right, it took me far too long to get around to this and (of course) it's taking me longer than anticipated, so I will post this first part now and tackle the rest after dinner - or possibly tomorrow.

Watch this space!

Okay, let's get this show on the road.

I am going to break this down scene by scene as per the title tracks on the libretto, because otherwise I am liable to just ramble in a nonsensical fashion until my head explodes, and am also very likely to forget something important. I am going to reference my headcanon(s) quite a lot also, so I'm going to include explanations of those at relevant points - I should point out these headcanons have mostly arisen out of that period in 2002-2003 where I was writing a lot of fanfiction in the wake of "Tango Up On Sunset", elements of which have become so ingrained into my understanding of the show that I often forget that other people are not privy to them. :)

Anyway, now that I've dragged myself away from Tumblr, without further ado...

( Act 1 )


Okay, this took far longer than expected, and I still have the whole second Act to get through. Hopefully by the time I get to that, I won't forget all the other things I wanted to say.

Watch this space!

Saturday was quite busy this week, as it was Jade's 20th yesterday (1st April) and one of Paul's colleague's 30th, so we had two separate sets of things to go to. We went to Jade's in the early evening, drank and watched TV and laughed at her hyperactive dog, got delayed an hour waiting for our taxi (we ordered three, the first two turned up and the third went AWOL) and then went to the Vaults for an hour or so. It was a bit noisy in the bar, but I definitely want to go back and try the restaurant as the building itself is very cool - though the cocktails are hideously expensive.

Yesterday we were going to do a ghost walk with Darren and family but we were much too tired and had things to do. Operation Salad Lunches is in full swing now so we went to Bearwood to get supplies (more salad, couscous, plus some bits for tea - we somehow still managed to spend £50), and then I spent much of the day doing washing as the weather was nice. (Our garden gets the sun pretty much all day, so is great for drying things.) We had a leg of lamb from Aldi for dinner with roasted veg and minted potatoes, and then Paul fell asleep watching Anchorman and refused to go to bed. :P

I've purposely left the beginning of this entry quite sparse as I have a lot to say about the other thing I did on Saturday, which was to have a girly afternoon with my mum watching Love Never Dies, the Phantom sequel, on Blu-Ray on the shiny LED TV. So of course I have quite a lot to say. ;)

( Love Never Dies Review - contains massive spoilers! )

Hmm. Yes. I suppose I expected LND to bring some of these feelings out again, but despite all that, it has a few nice moments. I might buy the soundtrack at some point, and I will probably watch it again now that I'm not going in "cold", but I think I'm going to have to look at it like a big-budget fanvid or it'll make me crazy.

Right, I think that is quite long and boring enough. I actually went looking for LND fanfic last night and for some reason had not anticipated that the majority would be missing scenes for "Beneath a Moonless Sky". (Like the badfic authors needed any more excuses.)

I wrote this at work today to get it out of my brain and subsequently was not exactly productive. Oh well. :P After the gym today Paul and I met up with Lloyd and Denise at Las Iguanas and had lovely Mexican food, so that was nice. I basically had fish and chips but the chips were sweet potato, which I'd forgotten how much I enjoyed, so I will definitely be buying more in future. :)

Right, that's it. I shall post this and probably go to bed. :P

I have no idea when I last updated or what it was about, but here is what I've been up to...

( Birthday Stuffs )

After that Paul and I both had a week off work. The beginning of the week mostly involved doing nothing, going to Aldi, and watching Duckula, in my case anyway. I've got through the first two discs so far.

On Thursday we headed off to London for a couple of days. ( London Stuffs )

In other, more positive news, TAX REFUND, BABY!!! Apparently for 2008-2009 I overpaid over a grand in tax! Considering I had to extend my overdraft again last month just in case I spent too much money in London, this little windfall is very much appreciated. In addition, I achieved my pay increment at work and should be getting a chunk of backpay tomorrow in my wages, which initially I was going to spend on an eye test and new lenses. Instead I'm going to use the tax refund to pay a chunk off the credit card and pay for the eye test, and hopefully spend the backpayment on something NICE for a change. :)

I anticipate something horrible will happen to me in due course when Fate realises she made a horrible error in judgement. But in the meantime, it's nice to have a bit of luck for once.

Also, I started watching Damages on Monday night and I'm about nine episodes in. Quite enjoying it, though I can't decide if Patty Hewes is pure genius or pure evil... Whichever it is, Glenn Close is sheer awesomeness incarnate, but we already knew that. :)

I think that'll do. :)

Okay, this final section will be devoted to the ‘ships. Of course. These are in no particular order except for the last one. ;) I've talked about the SB ships before at some length in my old shipper posts, but every time I come back to it, I find more stuff to ramble about. Er, sorry.

Oh, and before I start, after a comment from Paul last night and also reading online reviews, it turns out the gigantic portrait at the back was of Gloria Swanson. Which makes an awful lot of sense, though I'm kicking myself for not realising. :)

( Saturday, Part 3 )

Right, I think that’s MORE than enough. I didn’t mean for it to be this long, honest.

I’ll get the photographs up some point this week on Facebook and Flickr respectively, and spend Saturday indulging in scanning the UK tour brochure to make Faith/Jeremy manips and icons, because my journal needs more SB, dammit. Perhaps a layout? We shall see.

Normal service – by which I mean moaning, whinging and rambling about X-Files – shall be resumed some point next week. I hope. ;)

So, here we go - a write-up of London and some other stuff...

( London, including show spoilers )

The photos (all 12 of them) are on Facebook but I think they're friends only... They're not that exciting.

On Sunday we popped up to visit Tor and the new baby, which mostly involved horror stories about the birth and trying to calm down the dog, who gets ridiculously excitable around people. Eventually she settled down on the sofa next to me, at least until the doorbell rang. I was supposed to make cakes for work but failed horribly, opting instead to slob about watching my soap and, later in the evening, Fantastic Four, which was brainless and amusing.

And today I am back at work, being regaled with stories of how Sandra has been useless all of last week. Hurrah.

( Some annoying things )

There may be some manner of birthday drinking on Saturday but I'll see how I feel on Wednesday. If I'm knackered by then, it's not happening. By all means, though, feel free to celebrate my birthday without me; it's not like I'll be the life of the party.

Things I need to do tonight:

1. Washing up / clean kitchen.
2. Re-pot plant from Lisa (birthday present) so it doesn't die like the last one.
3. Make cakes for work.
4. Have a shower.

So, it was quite good. Not as good, I expect, as the London production, but enjoyable nonetheless. The special effects were pretty awesome. :) It's completely different from the film in that several bits are in different places and there are extra characters. I have no idea how it relates to the original book, though. Even the familiar songs sound unfamiliar because of the way they're arranged. Feed the Birds is still my favourite...

I was confused about where I'd booked our seats, as it turns out, because I thought they were in the stalls and in fact they were in the circle. Quite far back, but the view was okay. I'm not used to being that high up and not being able to see people's faces properly. Thank goodness those tickets only ended up being £20, though, as I think if I'd paid full price for them I would have been a bit pissed off.

Thanks for putting it on right in time for the summer holidays, Birmingham. Srsly. I really wanted to spend good money on tickets to have to strain to hear the entire thing over chattering parents and screaming children. *rolls eyes*

On that note, people and parents of Birmingham, please note the following:

1. When the music starts and the lights go down, that is a cue to STFU. It does not mean "start talking louder to hear each other over the inconvenient orchestra" and nor does it mean "slowly dwindle to silence after about five minutes". It means "be quiet now". Thank you.

2. Please do not fill your children full of sugar when they have to sit through just under three hours of theatre. Whilst it may shut them up temporarily and stop them whinging, it only means they will become hyperactive and jump up and down. Occasionally telling them "shh" every few minutes is not good enough either.

3. Also, seat-kicking is entirely unacceptable in any situation and I have no idea why you haven't yet drilled this into your little brats yet. (Thankfully, we were initially in the wrong row and hence moved away from the seat-kickers.)

4. If your child is too young to communicate in any other way than crying or screaming, they are too young to go to the theatre. Full stop.

Having said that, one small child did provide a moment of amusement at the start. The first thing on stage is a man emerging from a chimney. Said small child shouted "HELLO!" at him. :)

At the same time, though... it's not a pantomime. I'm all for taking your kids to pantos, and I'm all for providing cultural input via the theatre... but please, for the love of anything, teach them the difference between pantomime and musical theatre. When they grow up and go to Rocky Horror they can shout out all they like, but until that point, shut them up. KTHX.

We did go to Pizza Express for dinner, also, though it transpired the voucher had in fact expired on 7th August. I checked the bloody thing loads of times, too, and still got it wrong. It only came to about £10.00 a head anyway... Paul had a Four Seasons pizza and I had a chicken pasta dish containing musrooms, red onion and lots of cheese, with pesto, which was absolutely gorgeous...

Oh, and I forgot to mention - I bought some red pepper pesto houmous from Somerfield the other and it is MANNA FROM HEAVEN, not to mention moreish. (Also, turns out I like chickpeas.)

That will do for now. Tonight we're having some of the pork in a stir fry, and attempting to watch Dan: In Real Life before the end of the night so we can get the DVDs back to Blockbuster in time... I must also edit chapter 1 and post chapter 2 of the PotC fic...

I'll put the majority of this under LJ-cuts to save your friends-lists, and because I'm sure nobody's actually that interested.  But anyway, here's an update of recent happenings.

Thursday
Thursday was mostly an ordinary day at work, and I got a lift home at 4.45 in order to get changed and go out again to see Sweeney Todd at the Alex, starring Jason Donovan and Harriet Thorpe (she of Brittas Empire fame - she played Carole, the mad receptionist).  I had absolutely no idea what to expect of the show, other than it was by Sondheim and therefore inevitably quite good.  ( Sweeney Todd )

This would have been a much better review on Thursday, or at least closer to the event, but I've not had the time...

Friday
So, on Friday, Paul and I headed off into town to the Art Nouveau Poster exhibition at the Gas Hall, which was pleasant enough.  This was to signify the start of a rather cultured weekend.  After that we sat on the steps of Chamberlain Square in the sunshine for a bit, and went to the Yard of Ale to waste more money in their ItBox.  A quick trip to Paul's to get his stuff, and then back into town to get food in the Briar, to discover that they've stopped doing the interesting-sounding nacho platter that they had in their menu for all of a week... and, of course, more money-wasting in the ItBox.  We really need to get over our gambling addiction...

I don't remember what we did in the evening...

Saturday
Saturday, I dragged Paul up to Derby for the day, which was very nice indeed.  It was a lovely day, and even though the city centre was as busy as usual, it was quieter around the edges.  Quite a nostalgic day for me, discovering new shops that had sprung up since December 2004 (my last visit, with Vicky) and others which had disappeared.

We had a wander around the Victorian Market Hall before lunch, where Paul bought me a ( new hat. )  Which was nice.  You can never have too many hats.  This brings my fedora/trilby total up to four: black corduroy with pink/turquoise ribbon band and buckle, turquoise felt, white fluffy knitted with black/gold pattern, new orange/black check.  I've also got another one coming from eBay shortly, as well.  Pictures of that whe it arrives.

We also went into HMV, where I bought him two CDs (anniversary presents, you see) and several DVDs: Terry Gilliam's Brazil, The Jacket, and Shirley Valentine for my mum, as all three were ridiculously cheap in the sale.  I should have bought the Wizard of Oz 3-disc set for £9.99 whilst I was there, as it's not on sale in Birmingham. :(

We wandered around the museum and art gallery, since I'd spent four years in the city and never managed to do so, and continued our cultured weekend.  The contemporary stuff was alternatively quite good and quite crap - the "Blue" paintings based on Mediterranean waves were really cool, as were the photographs of shoes in different locations (they were better than they sound).  The museum's mummy room is frelling brilliant, too - they have a mummy in there where the face, hands and one of the feet are visible and perfectly preserved.  The teeth are also bright white, which was quite scary, but they could well be fake...

After that, we went to Barracuda Bar for food, and for lunch we had an entire farm.  No, really.  ( Vegetarians, turn away now. )  We did quite well, considering, and didn't need to eat for the rest of the day.  Unsurprisingly.

After that, we went for a walk to burn off the calories and meat headaches, so I dragged Paul towards The Factory, where I took a couple of pictures on my phone.  They don't seem to have emailed, though, so I'll have to try that again later.  I imagine they're not that good anyway.

Finally, we ended up at Coyote Wild - another place I failed to get into at Uni, mostly because we got IDed on the way in and didn't bother afterwards, being pissed off that a predominantly student-orientated city wouldn't accept NUS cards as ID - and sat in there until 5.30 trying not to fall asleep.  We definitely need a Coyote Wild in Birmingham - they do flaming shots!  Including absinthe, served with sugar and a spoon!  Unfortunately, by that point the other market had closed, and also the Eagle Centre is being refurbished so I was completely confused to find exits missing.  Anyway, we went back to the station and managed to get straight on a train.

So, yeah.  A very nice day.  It seems the city is now realising the full potential of having students and graduates living there; it now has another Subway, a Benjys, and the 'pub strip' along Friargate continues to extend.  As much as I would love to live back there, Paul won't have any of it.  Well, except perhaps for six months or so, but I think we'd both miss Birmingham too much.  I missed Birmingham when I was at Uni, but all the same, going back to Derby still feels comforting and homely...

Anyway, we bought a bottle of wine upon arriving back at New Street, and headed home afterwards.

Sunday
( Sunday was our anniversary. )

Quite a strange day, really.  It was nice enough, but I couldn't really shake the disappointment of our plans being scuppered by Bacchus' opening hours again (the first time being on my birthday, when we got there too late) or the annoyance of everythng getting ruined by football, as usual.

Monday
Monday was quite subdued, by comparison.  The morning was spent watching crap television, as usual, and I was in a grumpy mood for various reasons that I don't want to go into, and then we spent the afternoon like civilised people and played Scrabble.  I won four games out of six.  I rock.

Watched half of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind at Paul's before bed and had tinned bolognese on toast for supper.  Mm.

There was a random hilarity in the middle of the night (5.15am, to be precise) when Paul shouted "Fuck off!" to imaginary dream-people and woke me up.  Somehow, it seemed to also coincide with whatever I was dreaming out, which I now can't remember.  Apparently, in the dream, he was shouting to people across a road at the top of his lungs, and then woke himself up with the shouting.  I just remember some incoherent mumbling and then the swearing...

I went into town with him (he had to go to work) and went to McDonalds for breakfast, then wandered around trying to find shops that were open.  First, I went into Superdrug and got some disposable razors.  I'd gone in for hair dye, but didn't find that until much later in the morning in the little Superdrug on New Street.  I'll post pictures when it's done, if it works.  Also searched for said hair dye in Boots and failed horribly.  I was technically in town looking for some black cord trousers/jeans/similar and some sandals for the summer, and failed on both accounts. I got my grandmother a birthday card in WHSmiths (eventually, when it opened), and got myself a new purse off one of the stalls.  It's a bit smaller than my current one, but that one is slowly giving up the ghost, which serves me right for buying cheap purses, I suppose...

Then I went to look around Primark, which was nice only in the fact that it was empty and not like a jumble sale.  Didn't buy anything, though.  I was going to go around the Bull Ring, but got distracted by shiny things in HMV.  Unfortunately, I completely failed to get anything in the sales, and came out with four things at full price instead...

The Andrew Lloyd Webber Musical Box - 3 CDs for £8.99!  It has some songs I don't already have, and I'm a sucker for musicals compilations anyway...
The Corpse Bride soundtrack
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory soundtrack (both Elfman)
Alanis Morrisette's Feast on Scraps, which I've been eyeing for the past two years... still not reduced, but what the hell.  This will hopefully be my last splurge before the flat happens, other than upgrading my computer.

And that, I think, is that.

Today, I'm going to have a shower, change my bed, and, um, do nothing much else, because my back aches.  Tomorrow I will hopefully go through those bloody boxes in my room, because they're annoying me.  At some point, I also need to send off more application forms for inevitable rejection.

Maybe a couple of other posts later if I can be bothered.  I should say some stuff about the past year, and some other stuff, too.  And I have some interesting photos to post.  Brace yourselves.

...and I finally update. And considering I've not done that much, it's rather silly, really...

So.

Thursday, as stated, I saw Paul. Which threw everything off kilter and made me disorganised, but was nice nonetheless.

Friday we met up in town, went to Coffee Republic (I needed caffeine urgently or I would quite probably have keeled over right there in the street) for a bit and then to Tesco for wiiiine and stuff for bolognese... which his mother was quite displeased about, as she'd cooked pie, potatoes and brocolli for us.

We made our bolognese and it was very very nice. We watched the usual rubbish on television (I don't even remember what) and I passed out at some point after 1.00...

Saturday we met up with Vicky in town and went to the Hill for lunch... where we stayed for the next four hours, playing on the Hangman machine. I think we spent about £15 in the damned thing, but won most of that back to keep on playing. Eventually, we shall pwn it.

Vicky and I went back to mine so I could change, before rushing out again to get to the Hippodrome for My Fair Lady... even though we very nearly didn't get there.

It was frelling brilliant. :D Amy Nuttall (she used to be in Emmerdale, apparently) as Eliza, Russ Abott (!) as Mr Doolittle, Honor Blackman (!) as Mrs Higgins, and Kevin's Dad from Harry Enfield as Col. Pickering. And the bloke playing Higgins looked scarily like Rex Harrison.

All the way through, I had a little niggling fanfic idea, which I'm hoping to be able to write soon enough for a Christmas present for someone. Come on, Muses, get your arses into gear for a change.

( Highlights of the show. )

I'll probably end up editing that later. But anyway, I thoroughly enjoyed it. I'll be seeing the Matthew Bourne adaptation of Edward Scissorhands in March (:D) and will be booking tickets for Jerry Springer: the Opera and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (July showing, with Gary Wilmot as Caractacus) in the new year when I've been paid, as Vicky wants to see the latter with me. I really, really want to see the BRB production of Beauty and the Beast this Christmas, but I don't have the money... :(

Anyway, after that and some lurking at the stage door (got autographs for Amy Nuttall and Russ Abbott) I headed off towards darkstar_1984's house for her house party... but because I was cold and tired and antisocial I pretty much went straight to bed. So, yes, sorry to anyone who thought I was being moody. I don't know what was wrong with me... possibly just turning up to a house full of drunken people annoyed me because I would much rather have been at home writing up the fanfic before it fell out of my brain...

Sunday was spent watching Eastenders, White Men Can't Jump and random other crap. We had the aforementioned pie... which turned out to be a bad idea, as it made me sick last night and Paul sick this morning. I've clearly got a faster metabolism than him, which is bloody annoying considering he's thinner than me. :P So, that wasn't fun.

Doctor's appointment tonight to figure out whargwan with my periods and suchlike, even though they now seem to be evening out again... stupid body.