Do They Know It’s December?
Holy frikkin’ tinsel everyone, it has become December. I haven’t done any Christmas shopping yet… surely people just want to be thought of fondly and receive a manly nod across a pint? We were in Meadowhall last week and I’ve been into Nottingham and my god, the hordes of stumbling shoppers were horrifying. And those were on relatively quiet weekdays. I think I’d better retreat to the internet for thing acquisition.
Meadowhall’s food court was particularly awful. I think it’s partly the use of the term ‘court’ an not ‘parade of restaurants’ or something similar which makes people think it’s either a sport, hence the scrums of fat children having chicken juiced into their mouths by their greasy-faced parents, or a judgement, which would explain the evil eyes and hatred directed towards those of us who successfully attain tablehood.
People are possibly even more frightening than birds. I’m thinking mostly of their button eyes and weird limblessness when their wings are folded and they’re walking around like demonic clockwork toys. Evil I tell ya. They’re clearly still wondering how to eat us since they got all small and feathery and we got big and naked, then un-naked. That said, I do like pied wagtails. Thems’re dinky little birds who really do jig about like they’re wound up. I haven’t seen any this year though.
♥ Last Week’s Scribbles
Poem – Apricot Shades – I’m trying to make words pretty.
Writing
I blame work, other people and me. In that order. Work for making me stressed (though it’s my response to the work that produces stress), other people for wanting to do cool and interesting things (which I want to do as well) and me for saying yes and / or no to things people and myself. Sadly very little of that has been oriented around getting writing done… Bastardfish.
I did enjoy m’little poem last week though. I have a few little bits like that which don’t fit the Shankanalia requirements because there’s more melancholy than hate in them.
I am at least making notes and adding words to a pile of other words when they occur to me. So that’s something. I plan to write about our amazing pilgrimage to the Lego Store last week and the musical improv weekend just gone by.
Improv
A slightly slower early week for improv (thank the good lord Monkey Feet for that), but it accelerated dramatically towards the end. I met up with my one to one client for our first proper session. Planning for it is proving thought-provoking and interesting since there are only two of us (yes Nick, that is what one to one means) and that wipes out a whole bunch of games that you can do insanely with three but don’t make sense with two. Nonetheless we focussed on agreement, because that seems truly foundational for any creative endeavour, and also listening to oneself. We had fun and I am booked in for further sessions, so that must have been successful!
I ran our weekly jam on narrative. Nothing too heavy, just pushing us into thinking about cause and effect and scenes that follow each other. Because of playing around with the Armando structure a lot we’ve become used to seeing scenes that are thematically linked or at least share inspiration but aren’t really part of a story. I like stories, I like writing them and I like watching them. Very often we don’t see what happens to characters and it makes me sad inside. So we told some really weird stories. Many thanks to Mr Steve Roe (of London’s Hoopla Impro) for inspiration.
I’m going to have to deal with the Friday show and the weekend later because they were immense.
Media Intake
Goddamn it, I finally finished that Gozeul’s Dark World Toy Box which took forever to get through because of the insanely irritating typos only to find that it’s not even the whole bloody story. I liked it in parts, but I’m not going back for the sequel.
Whispers on the Underground
In need of mind refreshment I dived into the third of Ben Aaronovitch‘s supernatural detective series Whispers on the Underground. That’s the one I tried to read first before clicking (in my dopey way) that I didn’t understand what was happening. It’s just great – natural, funny, a bit scary with characters who pop off the page and wander round your bedroom. I very much enjoy the magic and Peter Grant’s attempts to rationalise and explore it as well as the splendid villains. I’m really hoping he’s going to keep knocking them out – the main character is barely into magic and there’s surely ten to twenty books in the story. These are superb and remarkably readable.
Boardwalk Empire
We just finished season one over the weekend and were fairly blown away by its overall awesomeness. The set design and costumes are astonishingly beautiful. Mrs Schroeder’s hats are a thing of wonder and the suits worn by Nucky and Jimmy make me want to wear nice clothes. So yeah, it looks pretty, but it’s got a killer script, magnetic cast and a simmering tension that makes it feel like a glossy Deadwood.
It is a joy to watch Steve Buscemi finally given a chance to shine – I love him in any film, but I’ve never had the opportunity to witness his range and the terrifying flat silver eyes he can turn on and off at will. Kelly Macdonald is equally gripping as domestic abuse victim turned I-don’t-know-what: enigmatic and stunning. The cast really deserves individual praise but I’m sure they’ve got that elsewhere. I just want to mention Stephen Graham‘s frighteningly psychopathic young Al Capone and Michael Shannon‘s prohibition agent – they both glue your eyes to the screen whenever they’re on it. A fantastic show and I can’t wait to start season 2.
Events and Excitement
Saturday 7th December 2013
Knickerbocker Glorious
A sweet layered stack of free live Entertainment, an abundance of Acoustic Music, a generous measure of Performing Arts. Topped off with a liberal sprinkling of family friendly Comedy. I’m compering!
The Fountain
Derby Market Square
Cathedral Quarter
Derby
11am-3pm – FREE
https://www.facebook.com/events/360132110789127/
Thursday 12th December 2013
Gorilla Burger: improv comedy carnage
Jam show – a chance for anyone to get on stage, plus MissImp annual awards ceremony.
The Corner
8 Stoney Street
(off Broad Street)
Nottingham
7.30pm – £4
Saturday 21st December 2013
Knickerbocker Glorious
A sweet layered stack of free live Entertainment, an abundance of Acoustic Music, a generous measure of Performing Arts. Topped off with a liberal sprinkling of family friendly Comedy. I’m compering!
The Fountain
Derby Market Square
Cathedral Quarter
Derby
11am-3pm – FREE
