Not least, Disco Pigs. Disco Pigs got added to the list during my Cillian Murphy phase and it did not disappoint.

Originally a play by Enda Walsh, Disco Pigs was later made into a film. I had zero expectations. I didn’t even know what it was about. I popped it in the PS3, curled up under a blanket with a cup of tea and watched.

By the end of it, my cup of tea was on the floor, cold. My blanket was forgotten. I was sitting on the edge of my sofa, sobbing. I felt like I hadn’t been breathing the entire time.

I’m not going to lie, I cry at films a lot. I have a talent for suspending my disbelief and really falling into the story. This was different. I felt like I’d been run over by a truck.

A *really* good story should be an experience, it should remove you completely from where you are and it should give you an emotional reaction. That reaction doesn’t have to be sad, or truck-run-over-y, it can be happy. But it should give you something. Disco Pigs gave me a lot.

Fast forward to now. Walsh has revived his Misterman, and put Murphy at the helm.

Originally in Ireland and then New York, I cursed that it hadn’t been there when I had. Fortunately, it is now in London (and then I hear it’s off to Australia). I’m not a theatre person, but I jumped at the chance of seeing this.

I tried to refrain from reading too much about it prior to seeing it and just trusted in Walsh and Murphy’s combined talents to make it worth the visit. Again, it did not disappoint.

Misterman is 90 minutes of Murphy on stage – alone, retelling the story of one fateful day. Set in a small Irish village, it journeys through religion, relationships and, most importantly, the origins of cheesecake.

A large, and fantastically designed stage somehow manages to be filled with Murphy and his performance. The astonishing attention to detail (Fanta, anyone?) creates an atmosphere so suffocating, it’s impossible to not feel a part of it.

I’m going to give a special mention to the lighting and sound engineers here – serious kudos. The use of light and sound to build atmosphere, and help Murphy own the stage was spot on..

Walsh has a serious talent for writing mental breakdowns, it must be said. His study of human emotion is brilliant, as it was in Disco Pigs. I went from finding Thomas Magill humorous and annoying, to having empathy and a large amount of pity, despite all that happens.

Ah, the humour. Completely unexpected. The little I did read prior to going made it sound serious. And it is. But, there is humour. Especially at the beginning. Before it builds into something distressing and beautiful in its own way.

Murphy. What to say. There’s a reason he’s received and been nominated for some prestigious theatre awards. He got a standing ovation at the end, and had to do three curtain calls.

Given that he is the only person on stage, he does have to flip into other characters a lot. I wondered if this might be jarring, but it’s so cleverly done it just flows. Murphy is often described as a chameleon, and he really is.

Somehow those famed eyes of his are visible even back at row R. They seemed to scream as the play gained momentum. It is very striking to see just how much Murphy’s face changes when he’s in character. When he came back out for the curtain calls he looked like a completely different person, and all that had changed was his face.

As another audience member said on the way out, “well, I’ve never seen a play quite like that before”. I haven’t. It’s two hours later and I’m still sitting here, running it through my mind. It’s emotional, it’s brilliant, go and see it if you can.

The Theatre

Lyttleton Theatre is beautifully designed and even as far back as R the view is spectacular. There are no pillars – designed that way specifically I believe – and it’s tiered so no heads get in the way.

—–

TL:DR – MISTERMAN EPIC. GO AND SEE IT.

Muse aren’t my number 1 band, not quite anyway, but they do win the title of my most favourite song since I first heard it 7ish years ago.

Check out the piano solo! So epic. Also I was at this gig, because I’m at all their gigs apparently.

Butterflies and Hurricanes by Muse on Youtube

This song/theory – that the flap of a butterfly’s wings can cause a big difference somewhere in the future – is the reason behind my use of butterflies in all my self branding. In a world where things can feel out of control and futile, it’s so important to remember that what you do IS important, even if it doesn’t feel like it. You never know where it might lead, or what effect flapping your wings is going to have.

2. Have you been naughty or nice this year?
Depends on your definition

3. What is the most expensive thing on your christmas list?
I guess jewellery was, everything else was around the same price mark… subscription to Adbusters magazine, new duvet plus set, money…

4. What do you want this year?
For Xmas? Or next year in general? To be happy and successful.

5. Do you still believe in santa?
Yes, I saw him riding the escalator in Debenhams.

6. Which is your favorite reindeer?
I don’t know.

7. Big tree or small tree?
A forest

8. What do you leave for santa?
Nothing… if everyone else does, he’s surely about to have a coronary by now from eating all those cookies. I don’t want to kill santa, do you?

9. Do you get a lot of presents ?
Not really, but they’re always awesome. Especially the ones I know I’m getting this year.

10. What is your favorite christmas movie?
Nightmare Before Christmas.

11. What is your favorite christmas song ?
All I Want For Xmas… is YOU. Last year I had it blaring out of my car on the way up to Ed’s

12. Red, Green, or White lights?
White

13. What is your christmas wish?
That everyone gets what they want.

14. How many days left until christmas?
I don’t know, four maybe

15. How will you spend christmas?
Spending the morning with my mister, then going home to see my Mum, so actually a significant part of it will be spent driving.

16. Do you still wake up early on christmas morning?
No not really

17. Do you still get presents from santa?
I’m getting a stocking this year, but I don’t think it’s really from santa…

18. Any christmas traditions?
Eating, if you can call that a tradition.

19.How was last christmas?
Amazingtastic

20. Is your house decorated?
MY house isn’t, but my mum’s is

21. Do you get all dressed up ?
Not really

22. Have you gone to any christmas parties this year ?
No

23. Favorite christmas memory?
I have lots, most recently I guess would be waking up with the man of my dreams on Xmas morning Haha, I’m so soppy.

24.When i say christmas what is the first thing that comes to mind?
Cheer.

25. Ever get your heart broken on christmas day?
No

As evidenced by this post right here [link removed], I love chocolate. Ed and I have come up with some kind of wager. A year of no chocolate. I get something at the end of each month I manage, but we haven’t decided what yet. Don’t say chocolate This all commences at the usual time, January the first. According to those money totals, I would save about £215, which is loads, although that spending may switch to caramel and cherries.

This also means I only have a week to eat all my Christmas chocolate, haha, oh no! :S

The longest I’ve ever gone is eight months, broken only by being polite in a family situation. To be honest I think those are a fair exception since being polite in a family situation is not a common occurrence ;P but the mister says otherwise. If his mum ever makes me tiramisu I am screwed, but there’s no way I’d ever say no to that! Haha.

Wish me luck, I’ll keep you posted

ETA: Changed it to no *buying* chocolate.

I finally got around to a) upgrading to the latest WP and b) putting in some HOPEFULLY more effective spam control. I should have done it sooner, 600 and something comments about large penises. I don’t want yourerections in my inbox, no mater how big, thank you.

Just to note, I’m using 

I intend to sort out all my categories, I realise I have a million because there never used to be this tag feature, which I love and adore. YAY.

Also the theme, I want to completely redo it. This may turn into a Christmas project. I have no time, so it won’t happen.

ETA: I will sort the theme, since I found this more updated one to edit. Yay for K2.

There have been more in Bones although now I try to remember I can’t. The two that have been said – Adam Baldwin and Groener. There was also the one who played Halfrek (the mother of the little pagaent girl), agh that girl from BtVS season 7 – Cassie? She was the PI for Hodgens and Angela. OH Cordy’s ghost’s Mom. She’s in a lot of things (sometimes as different characters in the same thing). She was the wife of that farmer in the organic farming episode.

I’d say the Groener and Baldwin had a fair amount to do with Boreanaz in Buffy/Angel. I did sit there and wonder if they talked about the good old days. But I guess they weren’t really “regulars” even if they were the big bads of their seasons.

I’m fairly certain there’s at least one more. I’m forever spotting familiar faces.

Just thought I’d add to the list.

As for SMG, her role was such a strong one in Buffy, I think it would be hard for that not to compromise Bones’ role for a lot of people.

I still need to sort out the comments system on here. I am thinking about it, honest! And I wish to reskin. This one’s too… something. It’s not me enough.

Anyone who has a GFXartist account, I have one too [link removed].

South Park this week was awesome. I can’t wait for Ed to get his X-Box back (it had the “ring of death” or whatever) so we can play Guitar Hero. It better be back before GH3 comes out…

I have to admit I do think it may have been aimed at teens younger than me. It was easy to see through some of the effects and some of it did seem quite childish. That said, it was a lovely story to escape with for a few hours once the lead stopped wearing his rose tinted glasses.

Brilliant cast list, I didn’t find myself wondering what other films they’d been in when I was watching – I was too engrossed in the performances. I’m really not a fan of Robert DeNiro – mostly because of the types of characters he plays, but I really enjoyed his part in this film and thought he did it brilliantly.

If you’re looking to escape for a few hours, you love fantasy or you love an entertaining lovestory with sky pirates, this is the film for you.

• It has the director of Wrong Turn. Wrong Turn was fantastically rubbish and hilarious. And actually from a visual perspective not bad.
• Eliza Dushku is one of my favourite actresses because Faith was clearly the best slayer and I’ve wanted to be her since however old I was when season 3 of Buffy came out – 13? She also does a better job in horror films than Sarah Michelle Gellar – who was just the worst thing ever in The Return (what the hell was that film supposed to be about? Usually I can at least laugh at rubbish horror but this one, I was just so bored) and alright I’ll give her a little credit for the Grudge, because the Grudge was awesome. But still no.
• The title makes it sound so deliciously rubbish, how can I refuse? Now I’ve read the synopsis I am a little disappointed that it wasn’t literally working through the alphabet, but that’s what you get for basing a film on a true story…
• Which leads me to a curiosity about the ending since in real life they never caught the killer.

The official site is over here –> http://www.alphabetkiller.com/ and it even includes a fantastic “teaser” trailer which shows you all the best bits of the film before you’ve had a chance to see it. Which who knows when that will be because it’s said OCTOBER for at least forever. Maybe it’ll hit the screens around Halloween (Halloween!!!)

Now I need to go shower and do some actual workleton.

Also to note, I disabled comments until such a time as I can find a captcha that works in preventing mass spammage of unsavoury anythings. IP address 195.somethingsomething can go fuck itself.

Whilst it’s been terribly stressful to the point of losing my mind, I’ve also had some awesome times in the last few weeks – seeing an old friend in London for the day after 4 years of not seeing each other, attending Ed’s dad’s wedding which was just such a lovely day, spending time with the Ed – romantic meals and whatnots, seeing the Michelles. It’s all good.

Also, speaking of the Ed, he just won the Design4Science competition for our category (Web and Multimedia) – FIRST PLACE. The piece of work he did is awesome, and I’m not just biased You should still be able to view it here. If you’d like to read more about the competition, check out the Design4Science website. I’m so proud, as you can imagine. His work will be exhibited in Sunderland, Manchester and Stockholm.

Also, I was tagged, sooo…

Instructions:
Remove the blog in the top spot from the following list and bump everyone up one place. Then add your blog to the bottom slot:

1. Fat Chick Crafts
2. Put a Sock in it
3. Suzy Sells Sea Shells
4. Enjambed
5. The Daily Ghosthand

Next, select five people to tag:

I think I’ll stick with the people already tagged… since I don’t know who else has blogs? I’m so out of the loop.

1. LK
   
2. Cherie
3. Christin
4. Twain
5. Sniggs

What were you doing 10 years ago?

Worshipping the Spice Girls, attending junior school, living a life free of responsibility. I was about to be ten, so actually I guess I would have just finished school for the summer. I’d just moved off of the farm I lived on for a year, I wasn’t too happy about that. I loved the farm.

What were you doing one year ago?

I keep a diary and I started a new notebook about this time last year, it never ceases to amaze me just how much has happened for me in the last year. Never. I was probably sitting in exactly the same place, well not exactly, over on that other desk, working away like a busy little beaver, daydreaming…

Five snacks you enjoy:

1. Cookies
2. Kekkle chips
3. Cheese baps
4. Cornflakes
5. Pancakes

Nice and healthy then… haha.

Five songs that you know all the lyrics to:

1. “Wonderwall” by Oasis
2. “Invincible” by Muse
3. Unintended” by Muse
4. Butterflies and Hurricanes” by Muse (I could just write, all the Muse songs, and be done with it)
5. Sleeping with Ghosts” by Placebo

Five things you would do if you were a millionaire:

1. Cry?
2. Give some money to my Mum, other close family
3. Invest some, aren’t we supposed to be frugal and things, pensions? High interest savings accounts? I’m sure I’d do that with some of it.
4. Buy all the cameras.
5. Buy a PS3 just for the sake of two games.

Five bad habits

1. Sleeping
2. Eating rubbish for breakfast
3. Not making important phone calls. (will keep this one too)
4. Procrastinating
5. I only have four, I’m perfect No I’m sure I have others.

Five things you like doing:

1. Making arts
2. Spending time with the people I love
3. Reading
4. Photographering
5. Sleeping

Five things you would never wear again:

1. ?? I don’t think I’ve ever made that much of a fashion tragedy, not that I can think of anyway.
2. Ok maybe this pair of massive cheap boots that were impossible to wear, but that’s not by choice.

Five favourite toys:

1. People…
2. My cameras
3. Play Doh
4. ??
5. Stuff