Sweeney Todd London 2012

Well I got to see the new London West End version of the acclaimed Chichester Festival Theatre production of Stephen Sondheim's Sweeney Todd musical. And Michael Ball and Imelda Staunton certainly delivered the goods despite a technical hitch with the stage scenery which halted the performance for 15 minutes.

I'm a bit fussy about musicals and can't see the point of Shrek The Musical or any musical that is just a vehicle for a pop band's songs... and Lloyd Webber or Cameron Mackintosh's works sound a bit trite to me. So it was a real treat to see something, a little more highbrow and almost semi-operatic. The sets were fantastic and the moving and rotating platform on which the barber shop action takes place obviously similar to the successful original Broadway design. The ensemble cast complimented the whole performance and I would srtrongly recommend anyone to see this show before the season ends in September.

And as a bonus our seats were upgraded from good seats in the upper circle to even better seats at the front of the dress circle.

Wednesday 30th April 2012

Haunted Castle IMAX screening

Well here's a cutting from about 10 years ago. God only knows why I kept this one! - The IMAX cinema near Waterloo Station's screening of the Haunted Castle. I remember really looking forward to seeing this and being really disappointed with the poor graphics that never lived up to even the 3D advert before the feature started showing coloured balls bouncing out of the screen.

Also a few years later I remember looking forward to seeing another IMAX film, James Cameron's depths of the ocean 3D film, or whatever it was called, and it was even worse! It was so shite I can't even recall its proper name now. That day the three of us who went to see the James Cameron travesty saw 2 films simply because the second one (about lions in Africa, and not directed by J.C.) effectively was a freebie... and ironically the film about lions, which we didn't really want to see but stayed just to get our money's worth, turned out to be far better directed and had far better 3D effects. Perhaps this turkey from James Cameron should've been fair warning for Avatar!

Tuesday 22nd May 2012

Goth Women's Institute

Well I had to scan this article in and post it on here... from today's London Evening Standard.

Monday 21st October 2012

A St Martin's Summer

A little out of season - St Martin's Day being 11th November - but I came across this phrase today whilst listening to my new Agatha Christie - Halloween Party BBC audio play CD. A St Martin's Summer is now what we call in England an Indian Summer, or an unusually warm spell before winter. This older phrase seems to have fallen out of use. So a little 'Googling' came up with this picture and for the fact that in some European countries, the feast of St Martin has some festivities similar to Halloween including the making of lanterns. So an interesting snippet especially since my local church is dedicated to St Martin!

Sunday 20th May 2012

Halloween Poetry

Serendipity happened this week when running to catch a train home and missing it by seconds forced me to kill some time in Foyles bookshop at St Pancras station. With plenty of time to spend I scoured through their audiobook CDs and picked up a copy of the BBC4 radio dramatisation of Agatha Christie's The Halloween Party, but the bonus was finding in the poetry section a small 255 page hardback book of halloween and supernatural related poetry. The poems are compiled from 2000 years ago to the modern day. Some rather dry but others less serious and I'm sure I'll find some poems within to revisit once the the autumn closes in and share in the year's Halloween festivities.

Saturday 19th May 2012

Rochester Sweeps Festival

Went to the Rochester Sweeps Festival today with a couple of friends and had a look around what was going on in the town:- plenty of Morris Dancing, two pubs advertising their own beer festivals at which too much beer was consumed, stalls and food in the castle grounds, and a trip to Baggins Second-hand Book Shop before coming home. Anyway here's some pictures of the sights seen...

Saturday 5th May 2012