Little Shacks

I’ve managed to find a few minutes this week to actually glue some sticks to some foam board. Miracles happen in small doses once in a while. I’ve covered one side of each of the small shack buildings I started earlier in the year.  The aim with these is to keep them simple, rough and ready. They will be the outskirts of town buildings, and I’m going to build them in pairs one slightly smaller than the other, this is to aid storage, as I’ll sit one inside the other in their boxes.

The roof sections will also be made separately so that they can be stored easier and maybe if I plan it right, they may also be interchangeable to some degree just for a bit of variety.

Next post in this series

January Theatre Review

It's been an odd month as far as theatre trips have been concerned, although none actually blew me away some were good, whilst others stood out as being some of the worst I’ve seen in ages, and that is saying something. I don’t usually post negative reviews but to balance the good ones this month I’ve provided a personal view of all five productions I’ve seen in January.

Inferno

Barons Court Theatre

(10th January 2013)

Three short plays loosely based on three of the themes from Dante's Inferno: lust, gluttony and wrath. The second play' was a five minute scene of a guy in a fat suit eating crisps. The first lust, written by one of the performers did nothing to convince. Two lesbian lover prostitutes pick up Jack the Ripper as a client, sorry for the spoiler but it was so badly telegraphed I felt like groaning at the revelation. Unfortunately, the fact that neither of the girls could bring themselves to look at each other during the performance left it inconceivable that they were lovers in lust with each other. I've seen more love between two straight manly men on rival sides at a football match.

Ran 8th January 2013 to 13th January 2013

 

The Dumb Waiter

Courtyard Theatre

(11th January 2013)

A two hander set in a non-described basement, a play from the pen of Pinter. This one act play managed to keep your attention and built the tension well with both humour and menace. Full marks to Clare-Louise English and Maggie Valois as the two hit men.

Ran 8th January 2013 to 13th January 2013

Lady Windermere's Fan

Bridewell Theatre

(15th January 2013)

Presented by Turn of the Wheel Productions.

A play from Oscar Wilde revived at the Bridewell Theatre. Not essentially one of the best know plays by Wilde it still retains the ability to entertain today and provides a subtle twist that demonstrates why Wilde is held is such high regard. An entertaining evening, and one of the highlights of the month. The set was basic but worked very well with changes of lighting and an enthusiastic butler showing what can be achieved with limited resources. The off stage lighting for a fireplace worked well, creating the required ambiance and function for the story, and succeeded in expanding the illusion of the size of the stately homes.

Ran 8th January 2013 to 19th January 2013

Every Man for Herself

Courtyard Theatre

(16th January 2013)

A simple plot, performers in war torn Italy, performing in a cafe decide to escape dressed as women. It was basically painful. The theatre audience were used as the audience of the cafe, with an opening appeal for applause before the performance had even started - this felt like an act of desperation. It might have worked if we had been sitting at cafe tables. The first act was basically the plot, the second act a string of numbers from the escapees in drag starting in English and each one dropping into (I'm guessing) Italian, which was lost on the majority of the audience.

On paper this offered a lot of promise, unfortunately it did not deliver.

Ran 15th January 2013 to 20th January 2013

House of Atreus

Waterloo East Theatre

(22nd January 2013)

Théâtre Libre present  House of Atreus 

Adapted by Ozlem Ozhabes 

Directed by Kaitlin Argeaux 

Movement by Justyna Ziarek

Orestes, returns to his homeland to avenge his father's murder. For me an average production with some questionable decisions regarding staging. The women were costumed, however basically but they did at least provide a feeling of a bygone period. The two guys looked like they had just wandered in off the street, the hero of the play dressed in leather jacket and hoody. I've seen very conflicting reviews of this play, one described the tango performed by the wicked mother and her new lover as being brilliant, personally I felt it was out of place and would certainly have been panned by the critics on Strictly Come Dancing as laboured, clumsy and awkward. Although I'm not one to deliver spoilers, when the revenge attack does take place it is poorly lit performed behind a muslin cloth, it neither works dramatically nor artistically.

Ran 15th January 2013 to 27th January 2013

My Big Gay Italian Wedding

Greenwich Theatre

(30th January 2013)

Described as a "music and dance filled extravaganza", to be honest wasn't really. The majority of the music and dance took place either before the show started or shoehorned into the second act, and can I go on record to say I HATE "gangnam style" and the inclusion of this number made me shudder. Other than that it was ridiculously funny, at times hilarious and so over the top it managed to comeback down again the other side.

Runs 30th January - Sun 3rd February 2013

These coffee sticks are everywhere.

I’ve let things slip recently as far as the model making has been concerned, and suddenly I found myself swamped with coffee sticks.

 

This weekend saw a mass washing and cleaning session, but without the warm sunny days of summer I now have coffee sticks drying all around the kitchen.

 

I’m going to start a quick knock them together project to build a couple of old shacks, mainly to get some used up. Working on models like this they can be as rustic as they like.

 

 

 

 

I’ve used foam board this time for the frame work rather than recycled card boxes, mainly because the foam board will be sturdier, and thus easier and quicker to complete.

MotorMouth in the snow

"Janet Fielding has a new fight on her hands not against the Daleks or Cybermen but against cancer. Peter Davison has swung into action and enlisted the help of his fellow Doctors to launch Project MotorMouth. It will not only raise money for a good cause but also keep Janet's spirits up."

 

Project MotorMouth Website. 

http://www.projectmotormouth.org.uk

Last weekend I took a trip to Slough, Friday was one of those snowy days in the UK which we have trouble with. Even the threat of snow causes most transport networks to throw their hands in the air and cancel services before even the first flake falls. So it was with some surprise that I made it to Slough station on Friday afternoon, but it was no surprise to find that buses and taxis had given up and gone home. So with iphone navigation myself and another poor bugger I found stranded at the station began to navigate a treacherous route by foot to the hotel. Fortunately I made it there alive.

Even more fortunately the weather improved for Saturday so the majority of the attendees made it, along with all the guests with the exception of poor John Leeson who found himself stuck in Hamburg, due to strike action rather than foul weather. Full marks also go to Colin Baker, who was rehearsing in Lincoln in the morning due to commitments he had to his touring play (The Lady in White), but still came and signed for everyone when the easy option would have been to have cried off.

As crew I had a delightful time in the morning as PA for Simon Fisher-Becker (Dorium in the previous series), and the line up of Doctors was quite an event, with Doctors 5, 7, 8 & 10 on stage together. A good sum was raised in the auction for the MotorHouse project (*) - a project to renovate West Cliff Hall in Ramsgate being championed by Janet Fielding as part of her recovery therapy. It seems to be working as Janet was in fine form Saturday.

For more details of the project and to donate direct you can visit the project's website:
http://www.projectmotorhouse.org.uk

There is a second event planned for August, this time driven by companions rather than Doctors, I'm sure it will be a great event and there are still a few tickets left. For more details visit...
http://www.tenthplanetevents.co.uk/conventions---project-motor-mouth-2-622-c.asp


(*) Motorhouse is the project to renovate West Cliff Hall in Ramsgate, MotorMouth is the name for the fundraising done in Janet's name, as Tegan was known as 'The Mouth on Legs' during her time in Doctor Who.


Details of Colin's tour can be found here:
http://www.freewebs.com/colinbaker/latestnews.htm

Monkey Business

In my last post I mentioned the influx of non festive post that I had received, along with the somewhat lacking level of customer service I had received. That level of poor customer service continues into the New Year, so don't be surprised when in the near future I rant again. However, one of the other letters I did receive was a begging letter from a monkey named Joey.
 

As readers of my semi-regular missive may recall I occasionally visit Cornwall, earlier last year I was down there whilst working on the Karl novels. During this trip I visited the "The Monkey Sanctuary", along with some friends who already sponsor a monkey or two there.

The letter I received was well written, in fact many humans could take a lesson or two from Joey's writing style, grammar and use of punctuation.

Joey, as seen on wildfutres.org

Joey is a Capuchin monkey who was taken from the wild at three months old, kept in atrocious conditions at a pet, which resulted in him being permanently disabled. He was rescued by 'Wild Futures' who run the Monkey Sanctuary in Looe where he was nursed back to health, but he will always need care along with many other monkeys that were rescued from similar fates and cannot be returned to the wild.

Stephen Fry tells Joey's story much better than I could here in the video recorded for the sanctuary, and available to view on their website.

 

I have supposedly saved myself a small sum of money from my recent move of services, (not a headline saving as some money advice sites would trumpet) but that was not the driving force for the move. So I've decided to use some of these funds for the adopt Joey scheme.

You can follow @wildfutures on Twitter

http://www.wildfutures.org/

Starting my “New Year’s Resolutions” early

Starting my “New Year’s Resolutions” early.

As the festive season galloped towards me at a shocking pace, I found it hard to feel happy, fluffy and festive. My letter box and email inbox received more grief than good will and it came from the main service providers for banking, electricity, gas, internet and phone.

NO LONGER!

I’ve procrastinated too long in giving these people a kick up the arse or the complete boot. So now they go. Their days are numbered and in some cases their time has come.

The first to go is Eon, supplier for gas and electricity now for several years. Earlier in the year when my fixed term for duel fuel expired they moved me to a new one automatically again with a higher than average price but fixed until April 2014. As we all know they seem very quick in hiking prices but when the wholesale cost comes down we never see the benefit. This time however they played dirty.

I have just received a letter saying my electricity prices are rising in January.

What about the fixed tariff until May 2014?

It seems now that according to their records only the gas was moved to a fixed rate and the duel fuel electric was not.

My tough luck.

This is not the first time I have had cause to complain about them. Over the last few years I have experienced their inability to process their own meter readings, have at times had over two years of bills reworked several times as they entered a ridiculously wrong reading, thus sending the billing into meltdown. I received a hostile letter from them for being at work when their meter reader came, I HAD NOT REFUSED ENTRY I was just not there as I’m not psychic. When I complained about this attitude in writing to their customer service department I received no response. This has been their last chance and the switch process is already in motion.

 

Others will follow, this will be a year of change unless services improve.

 

Book Review Nov / Dec

Conflicted Men
By Jason G. Long
ISBN 9781291130973

The début novel from Jason G. Long introduces us to two men at opposite ends of their existence, Mark middle-aged, established with a reputation, and Jake, a young lad just coming out and new to the scene. They are brought together by a mutual acquaintance and thus thrown into each other’s lives. It is no secret that recreational drugs and alcohol have featured heavily in Mark’s past and we are delivered into his world with all the trauma this life style can bring, but the story is not delivered in either a judgemental way or as a lecture on drug use, and also successfully avoids glorifying the subject, giving the reader a refreshingly realistic account alongside characters you actually care about as their lives unfold around you. Humour and tragedy run parallel in this well paced story.

For more details you can visit Jason's website, purchase from Lulu.com
or follow him on Twitter:
@Long_Tweets
http://www.jasonlong.co.uk

http://www.lulu.com/shop/jason-long/conflicted-men/paperback/product-20475359.html

 

Patrick Troughton,

The Biography of the Second Doctor Who

By Michael Troughton

Originally published by Hirst Publishing

Michael, Patrick’s son, lifts the lid on the mystery that was the Second Doctor.

In a candid and revealing book Michael tells the story of what it was like to have the Second Doctor Who as your father, and a father that was not always there. Patrick Troughton lived a double life and negotiated between two families. This books tells about life in one of the Troughton households and the career path of one of this country’s finest character actors.

 

For more details you can follow Michael on Twitter, or vsit his website:
@mwtroughton
http://michaeltroughton.co.uk

Paperback: 291 pages
Publisher: HIRST publishing; 1st edition (2012)
ISBN-10: 1907959491
ISBN-13: 978-1907959493