This Site Has Moved

New Wordpress Site

The Old/Non Updated Content...




The home of the haikulator

 

Links

Sentence Generators
My Stand-up & gigs
The Coding Craftsman
BurberryAndBroccoli
MarkInventions

The Musical!
Incredible Productions

apostrophell
backlash
incredible
haiku


Previous Posts

A new morning and a brighter outlook. Sadly, we're...
Well, it's been a pretty poor day. It did have one...
Something of a strange day. I quite enjoyed my bus...
Now I have discovered that Currants are named afte...
A weekend of attempting to face up to who Ashley F...
Then I read about this guy trying out the all-natu...
At first glance, this page on adding nipples to br...
It has most certainly been an odd day. The aim to ...
Limitations at The Hyena
Not a terrible gig tonight. Not a storming roof-ra...

Blog Archives

October 2001
November 2001
December 2001
January 2002
February 2002
March 2002
April 2002
May 2002
June 2002
July 2002
August 2002
September 2002
October 2002
November 2002
December 2002
January 2003
February 2003
March 2003
April 2003
May 2003
June 2003
July 2003
August 2003
September 2003
October 2003
November 2003
December 2003
January 2004
February 2004
March 2004
April 2004
May 2004
June 2004
July 2004
August 2004
September 2004
October 2004
November 2004
December 2004
January 2005
February 2005
March 2005
April 2005
May 2005
June 2005
July 2005
August 2005
September 2005
November 2005
December 2005
January 2006
February 2006
March 2006
April 2006
May 2006
June 2006
July 2006
August 2006
September 2006
October 2006
November 2006
December 2006
January 2007
February 2007
March 2007
April 2007
May 2007
June 2007
July 2007
August 2007
September 2007
October 2007
November 2007
December 2007
January 2008
February 2008
March 2008
April 2008
May 2008
June 2008
July 2008
August 2008
September 2008
October 2008
November 2008
December 2008
January 2009
March 2009
April 2009
May 2009
August 2009
September 2009
January 2010
March 2010
April 2010
May 2010
June 2010
July 2010
August 2010
September 2010
October 2010
November 2010
December 2010
January 2011
February 2011
March 2011
April 2011
May 2011
June 2011
July 2011
August 2011
October 2011
December 2011
February 2012
March 2012
April 2012
May 2012
June 2012
July 2012
March 2013
April 2013
May 2013
June 2013
July 2013
August 2013
September 2013
October 2013
December 2013
January 2014
February 2014
March 2014
May 2014
July 2014
January 2015
February 2015
March 2015
April 2015
May 2015
June 2015
July 2015
August 2015
January 2016
February 2016
March 2016
April 2016
May 2016
July 2016
August 2017
January 2018
August 2018
September 2018
July 2019
August 2019
May 2020
June 2020
July 2020
August 2020
September 2020
December 2020
January 2021
July 2021
September 2021
February 2022

Saturday, September 13

I have three interests, so it would seem. In no particular order, these are comedy, music and computers. In each category, I get involved as deeply as I can and try to acquire as much background knowledge as I can without getting bored. I like to know how things work. I like to know who is who, what connects to what... it's the sheer quantity of detail that you can get to know which I find incredibly inspiring, while astoundingly individually trivial.

I have no idea if I am talented in any of the fields I involve myself with. I fear that the only thing I have any natural talent for is computing, and the fact that I do that for a living, and write freelance on the subject, means that my enthusiasm for the subject is replaced by more of a work ethic. At the moment, work ethics come second to hobby ethics. That means that the work gets done, but gets forgotten when I'm not doing it. So, computing, even if it is the only thing I'm really any good at, is still taking more of a back seat in my life.

My passion for comedy is soon to be demonstrated when I embark on my next 10 comedy gigs, these will be performed in a 5 week period - not bad considering the fact that I managed only 10 gigs in a 3 week period during the Edinburgh festival, and everything was within 30 minutes' walk, rather than 3 hours' driving. I love conceiving and performing comedy routines - I'm actually quite enjoying the few comedy songs that I can conjure up too. Indeed, my act is going more musical.

This whole "let's do it as a musical" approach is also hardly a surprise. My life has revolved around musicals for the last year. I am sitting in a room with approximately 90 CD recordings of various musicals' soundtracks. A year ago, I was only just into double figures. So I can buy CD's... big deal. Yes, but in the last year I've co-written a show. I've also conceived another 4 musicals of which two I'm in the process of writing in some form or other. I've appeared in 2 musicals (a total of 8 months' rehearsal time involved). I'm rehearsing a 3rd. I've worked backstage on two others. I've been to see maybe a dozen professional productions of musicals and several amateur productions (largely during the festival). I've read books, looked at websites and become strangely infatuated with the whole artform.

So what does this mean to me in day to day life? Well, it means that my mind is frequently drifting around in the world of performing arts. I will often end an evening out having found myself in deep conversation with someone on the subject of their favourite musical. I need to recognise this fact and do something about it. So I have. Today I have spoken to a hell of a lot of people on the subject of musicals. Indeed, I spent approximately 6 hours talking to approximately 100 different people on the subject. Why? Well, I'm setting up a society at the student union for the very purpose of creating and understanding works of musical theatre. Perhaps I've found a niche? Or at least I've found a forum why my own fetish for musicals seems appropriate. From the people I've spoken to today, I could form an orchestra, or chorus, or perhaps a small dance troupe. Quite whether I'd get that far is another matter.

Tonight I watched Guys and Dolls (a musical of course). This is a show whose music I knew, but whose plot I didn't. I saw the movie version - it's been kicking around my place for a few months, but I finally sat myself down to view it. I'm glad I bought it. It was absolutely fantastic. Jean Simmons, as the Salvation Army-style leader, looked familiar and I've just looked her up on IMDB and realised why. I last looked her up after watching Spartacus. At that time I don't think I scrolled down to discover that she was also in Guys and Dolls. Indeed, I don't recall Stanley Kubrick as bring the director of Spartacus when I watched it. It's amazing how these things suddenly seem interesting - Mr Kubrick was, of course, the director of the film I watched the other day - Dr Strangelove - a film I was greatly enamoured of - the precision of its construction was amazing and a lesson in writing and filmmaking. And the final link in the chain of musicals, directors, actresses and my obsession for pointless trivia. Well, I just bought a CD online - Jeff Wayne's musical version of Spartacus. So it all links back to musicals...

I'd just like to point out that these are actually meaningless and tenuous links. If I were a bit of a mentalist, I might start to conceive conspiracy theories around the subject of how it's all linked in a suspicious way and is part of some mind control thing, making me buy CDs and DVDs. In fact it's clear why it's all linked up - the world of performance is, quite necessarily, incestuous, and it's often the case that the talent rises to the position of most prominence. Perhaps my ability to ride the crests of the waves of hollywood talent in my choice viewing is an indication of how discerning I am, or maybe how broad a church my tastes have become.

Interestingly (to me that is), I considered Spartacus a very rich source of material for a musical when I watched it. I hope that the version of Spartacus by Jeff Wayne (who also did a musical of War of the Worlds - hey, wait, that's an H.G. Wells, novel - I know someone else who wrote a musical based on an H.G. Wells novel [me and Chris] - sorry, still no conspiracy there) is as inspiring as his previous work.

Right. I'd better go. I'm starting to sound dangerous.

I have had a good day, though, which makes a change this week.

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home

All content ©2001 - 2020 Ashley Frieze