The past week or so has been eventful, to say the least. Not all is going as well as I would like, and certain areas of life have definitely taken a turn for the worse.
But amongst the setbacks, there have been some triumphs, the most noteable being me being press-ganged into the position of Stage Manager for the current Dramasoc production, Alice in Wonderland. (Apparently one of the potential problems with turning up to Dramasoc parties is eventually ending up involved in their productions... who knew?) Talk about weird. I walked into the theatre for the first time on Tuesday, and by Thursday evening the curtain was rising on the first of ten shows and I was frantically trying to make sure the lighting, music and projectins were all doing their thing at appropriate times. I don't think my brain's caught up with the fact I'm doing something like this yet, hopefully it won't realise until after the final show...
Considering we were still building the set half an hour before the audience walked into the theatre on the first night, the show is going very well, and just keeps getting better and better. I urge all to come and see the brothers Allan (Ben and Dan) as the White Rabbit and the Mad Hater, respectively, and the utter nonsense that is this play. It is Alice in Wonderland after all.
Job wise, there may be a great opportunity coming up to work and research in my actual area of expertise (biotech policy) - full time and well paid! I have no idea if it'll work out, but keep your fingers crossed for me.
Troy was seen. And while I don't think it was as bad as two and a hald stars out of five, I think the Press review itself made some points which I totally agree with. Two of my main issues were that I got bored during the movie in a couple of places, and their was quite a lack of characters to empathise with (with the possible exceptions of Hector, though he wasn't there at the end of course, and Odysseus, who wasn't in it enough, and maybe a few of the more minor characters). Also, damn me if they didn't keep using the words "countries" and "nations" throughout. That really pissed me off (although this is probably the political science guy in me talking)... what's wrong with calling them kingdoms? There were no such thing as countries or nations 3200 years ago. I mean, I understand them fighting for their King, or Kingdom, or People, but why use these modern terms when it just wasn't necessary? Grr.
But the fight scene between Hector and Achilles? That was one of the coolest ever. Right up there with the Cave Troll scene in LOTR:FOTR. Spears, shields, swords... swee.
Happy birthday to Claire and Dave, we'll see you at the party tonight after the show...
I use to feel a little left out when people go on about the intricacies and details of movies. However something I've realised is that I just don't care. As long as the movie is up to a standard where I managed to find an element of enjoyment out of it,
(i.e. not feeling like I should've just bought a lotto ticket with my $10) then pfft.
I can understand the political science geek coming out in you but supposedly there is a problem in time consistency when Achilles is supposedly wearing Roman sandals rather than greek. Why? Brad Pitt doesn't like his ankles.
Posted by: heq at May 15, 2004 02:38 PMWere you Claire's lesbian friend?
Van Helsing was cool. What the hell were the chipmunk henchmen s'posed to be again though?
Eternal Spotsun of the Mindless Shine also cool, but completely wrong movie for me to watch. Waaah.
:-)
Posted by: Dan at May 15, 2004 10:45 PMThe henchmen were indeed strange.
The 'Mad Hater' Nic? Sounds a bit serious.
'Fight for your country' and similar actually showed up in 'The Iliad' as I was reading it last night, although of course it is a translation.
Mad Hater indeed. Hmmm....
Posted by: Saint at May 19, 2004 09:05 AM'Mad Hater' seems appropriate in this day and age when you go on to talk about the patriotism and nationalism that came through Troy...
Posted by: Dave at May 19, 2004 03:39 PM