The Tale of Sweeny Todd

Tonight was the much anticipated AOS performance of Sweeney Todd. It was with mixed feelings I sat down to watch the show. Nomi should have got the part of Mrs Lovett... so I wanted to see the reason why she was second.

The opening scene left my jaw on the floor, a massive set with a well constructed scenery laid out in front of us... far better than anything I've ever seen them use before.

When Sweeney entered the stage my first thouht was... "this is a perfect choice"... my second thought however was "isn't he short"... not that the charcter playing Mrs Lovett was tall, just that my mental image is her being shorter than him. Sadly that was the first of many dissapointments.

The first and largest was the accent and singing ability of Mrs Lovett... ranging from thick east end cockney (Or rather mockney... it was so forced it was comic) to choral operati c in places, it just prooved to jarring to the mind listening to it.

The second was the character of Toby... played by a 16 year old boy... who sadly was 7' something tall... rather a startling contrast to Sweeney. But with a truely beautiful voice. I couldn't work out if he was nervous or acting the part of a scared boy. Either way it addded well to the character.

The last was Pirellis moustche and wig... it just looked rediculous. Everyone elses makeup and wigs looked fantastic, so why couldn't they pull of this one?

The lighting and music was second to none, along with the fantastic set and a minimalist chorus made the show supurb. By far and away the best bit was the barbers chair actually having the tipping mechanism :-)

The last few scenes had some gore in, the previous scenes it was all implied, but the deaths of the key characters all had SFX makeup... a shame this couldn't have been used throughout, but I understand the logistics of using all that fake blood.

All in all a excellent performance, and cattyness aside the only change I'd make is to recast Mrs Lovett.

Picture Courtesy of Tina Hood-Liles

Education Renders Us Fit Members For Well Organised Society

Today I went to Oxford Brookes Universities open day... I was hoping to find a course that I could go on to advance my qualifications (I already have a BSc, so I was looking for a MSc or MEng).

I suppose it all started to go wrong when I got there, and realised that there was no parking... at all... unless you have a disabled badge... I suppose you're expected to catch the bus, or instead cycle there. When I eventually found a space (Many thanks to the guy running the corner shop that pointed out that outside his shop was the only place I could park without a permit (Tho even that had a limit of 2 hrs).

I imagined an open day at one of Oxford many universities to be a grand affair with many lecturers to talk to... sadly was mistaken. When I arrived I was presented with the customary bag of goodies and pointed in the direction of a room where all the faculties each had a stand. Not at all what I was expecting... 2 people to a desk and once for each faculty... my god I thought, each faculty has positively tens of courses... where are the other lecturers? I quickly found the Technology desk, and noted they had about 4 leaflets, none of which at first glance appeared to have any relevance to what I intended to study. So naturally I inquired to the only chap that was free at the table, only to be informed that his area was in Audio Visual engineering (IE Films Tv etc), now whilst I would never say I wouldn't do that line of work (I've always fancied being a SFX modeler/tech, especially pyrotechnics :-) ) it wasn't what I was there for, so I asked if there was someone with knowledge in that area around? "erm he'll be back soon" was the response... 10 mins later I decided that I'd take a load off and sit down, so I asked them to point him in m y direction when he showed up.

20 mins later he showed up... looking pretty bedraggled... hardly an advert for the course. Must have had a tough day I thought... so I posed my questions about the course, and he adequately answered them... all the time munching his way through a stack of biscuits that had been laid out as hospitality to the prospective students (His long day can't have afforded him much of a lunch!), suffice to say as a spokesman for the university I was quickly beginning to doubt that this was the place for me. Especially when I discovered that the course on Advanced Engineering Design was primarily focused on Automotive Design (Oxford being home to various F1 design housed I should have guessed this in advance), which unfortunately is completely irrelevant to my current employer, and frankly far detracting from my chosen career of Aerospace and Defence Engineering.

Ho hum... I now continue to look... hopefully a few well placed letters to some Universities may come up with something of interest.

Not The Messiah

Me and Nomi went to see "Not the Messiah" at the Royal Albert Hall as a early Christmas present. I should really read up more on what I plan on going to see... as it was a total surprise to me that it was an oratorio and not a play. Not that I was disappointed, far from it I was really excited, I've seen plays, and musicals before. But never seen an Opera before... yes I know the difference, this wasn't an Opera, but it's close enough for an uncultured swine like me ;-)

During the opening few scenes I had quite a difficulty discerning the storyline from the "music" (The reason I say "music" is because I tend to let everything... instruments and vocals merge into one.... which is why I like foreign music, despite the fact I can't understand what they're saying... the singing is like another musical instrument to me). Thankfully Nomi pointed out that the program contained the words as well... so I spent the rest of the performance with my own personal subtitles :-)

After the show I just was elated... I'd seen Monty Python live... not actors playing parts, but some of the actual Pythons themselves. It was a shame that John Cleese didn't make a guest appearance given it was the 40th anniversary. I only hope they make a 50th anniversary performance now... I can't wait until then :-)

Edited 28/11/09

And of course not to forget the unexpected encore of the "Lumberjack" song performed by Michael Palin. I think Nomi would have quite happily died at that moment :-)

Releasing the Da Vinci Code

A while ago I found a copy of the Da Vinci Code that someone had "released" under the Book Crossing scheme. I finally finished reading it the other day and wondered where I'd like to release it... Somewhere apt I thought. But when we went up to Yorkshire this weekend the perfect opportunity presented itself. Sandal Castle... Ok so it's not as apt as Roslyn Chapel in Scotland... But the name is at least amusing in it's similarity to Sangreal :) hope someone finds it and enjoys it as much as I did... I wonder where it'll go? (Click here to see)

Only hope I find another Book Crossing book sometime soon... It was like finding treasure :)

About Time I Mentioned My New Car!

Working where I work precludes me from casually writing stuff on my blog, but the odd weekends where I'm restless means that you greaders get a few updates, So better late than never huh?

My old car was squashed to beyond repair, so naturally I had to get a new one. I knew what I wanted, but not the means to get it. I can't afford to buy new, but in a funny sense that's a good thing, as I've had few hire cars recently, and all have been pretty badly made... even though they've been near top of the range models. So I decidd to let fate do it for me, or rather my dad... there's no one else I'd trust to do a good job picking a car for me... not only does my dad know enough about cars that he could easily run a dealership, but he also like me is an engineer (Only far far better than I could ever dream to become) so can spot problems before they arise in cars like some sort of car whisperer.

So given my busy schedule, impending lack of a hire car and a severe lack of anywhere to go looking my dad kindly went off to an auction near him to pick me up a bargain. And a bargain he found. A Volvo S60 '03 plate, with all the trimmings... alloy wheels, leather seats, and 5.1 surround stereo. Not no mention the fact it's a 2.5L Diesel so it's got plenty of poke. And strangely emaculate... well it wasn't to start with, but my dad confessed after I queried the low price... it was owned by a farmer, and half the farm was still attached to the inside and outside! However one decent valet and service by a friendly garage near to my dads and she sparkled good as new.

Until... someone decided to back into her :-(

Now I was gutted to see the damage when I woke up in the morning, especially as I had no idea who it was. Cue some Poirot style investigation... and I found out it was a Tesco delivery truck. At least that was my primary suspect, the damage being at the right height and shape for only that sort of vehicle. And it was there at the right time.

So off I went to Tesco... and without any fuss they gave me insurance details and I passed them to my insurance company. Game over I thought... it's gonna be fixed... only a couple of weeks later I got a letter from Direct Line saying that Tesco denied responsibility :-( I was devastated...I knew the damage was expensive... ~£800.00 none of which I could afford.

So with no other viable option, I thought "what have I got to lose", so sent a letter to Tescos customer services explaining everything and asking if they could see fit to put it right.

I was expecting a letter with a couple of vouchers and a generic "we're sorry" letter. What I got however was a very fast response of "Sure we'll fix it, it's obviously damage caused by our van and we'll take your word on it". So now it's in the garage being repaired... all I can say is wow... a responsible company. In reality it's a drop in the ocean for Tesco to splash out and fix my car... they probably make that much in profit in less than a second! But they were under no obligation to do it, the worst that could happen is I shop elsewhere... big deal... I spend like £300 a month on shopping, again nothing in their grand scheme of things. But by paying out as a gesture of goodwill I'll be forever telling the story of how good Tescos are :-) ... thank you Tesco I'll be a loyal customer for life!

Showman Show

So what are the showmen showcasing in the show at the showman show? Try saying that fast :)

Animals in Road

Bit specific the number of animals in the road? Bit of an overstatesment especially as I didn't see a singe one :( My Volvo is hungry for blood after hit a pigeon the other day... So she was disappointed :(