tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-61832185644012955122024-03-14T10:13:20.229+11:00AbusicalsA blog on theatre, writing and editing.Aaronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07848465204648545676noreply@blogger.comBlogger126125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6183218564401295512.post-86415194677548685822012-11-08T16:39:00.000+11:002012-11-08T16:46:39.137+11:00Coming in 2013<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ZsZJJTV2oTk/UJsZaHY5poI/AAAAAAAAAnk/l4QbN6DO5jc/s1600/CURTAIN.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ZsZJJTV2oTk/UJsZaHY5poI/AAAAAAAAAnk/l4QbN6DO5jc/s1600/CURTAIN.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">At the theatre in 2013</td></tr>
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<br />
Ladies and gentlemen of the ensemble: 2013 is going to be a bumper year at the theatre!<br />
<br />
<i><b>Legally Blonde</b></i><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://legallyblonde.com.au/musical.html?gclid=CKrAra6jvrMCFQtZpQodTgUAkg">http://www.legallyblonde.com.au/</a></div>
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You've seen the movie(s), now see the musical! Following lengthy, successful runs on Broadway and in the West End, <i>Legally Blonde</i> is currently playing its out of town tryout in Sydney to generally positive reviews. The lovely and hard-working Lucy Durack, best known for her big break in the Australian tour of <i>Wicked</i>, brings all of her charm to the lead role. Also starring are: Rob Mills and David Harris (ladies: two reasons alone to see this show, and Lucy's former hunky cast-mates from <i>Wicked)</i>, Helen Dallimore, Erica Heynatz, and Cameron Daddo.<br />
<br />
With a fun score and many laughs to be had, hopefully <i>LB</i> will transfer to Melbourne mid-2013. They're also running a lottery before each show — which has become a trend for Australian musicals in recent years — where you can score two $30 tickets to the show by putting your name in a barrel two hours before the curtain. Count me in!<br />
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<i><b>The Lion King</b></i><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://disney.com.au/lionkingthemusical/">http://disney.com.au/lionkingthemusical/</a></div>
<br />
If you haven't seen, or at least heard of, this show, then surely you have been living under Pride Rock! Disney's <i>The Lion King</i> returns to Australian stages in 2013. The show last toured from 2003 to 2005, and will return to Sydney before no doubt coming back to Melbourne for an extended season.<br />
<br />
You can say what you want about the <i>Disneyfication</i> of musicals and their theatrical dominance, but Lion King remains as one of the most entertaining evenings you'll experience in the theatre. Between the winning score and the breathtaking puppetry, take your grandmother and any stunt children you can find: everyone will enjoy themselves. <i>Hakuna Matata</i>!<br />
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<i><b>Sunday in the Park with George</b></i><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.victorianopera.com.au/what-s-on/sunday/">http://www.victorianopera.com.au/what-s-on/sunday/</a></div>
<br />
Victorian Opera is bringing back the classic Stephen Sondheim musical to the Victorian Arts Centre from July 2013. Featuring a superb theatre score, with some of Sondheim's most memorable songs, this is an excellent choice for this opera company.<br />
<br />
Act one is set in 1884, around real-life painter Georges Seurat and his memorable canvas, 'A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grand Jatte'. Act two jumps forward to twentieth century Chicago, with the same principals playing descendants of those in the nineteenth century, again in the world of art. This Pulitzer prize-winning show promises to be a highlight of the Arts Centre's program next year.<br />
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<i><b>Flowerchildren</b></i><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.magnormos.com/">http://www.magnormos.com/</a></div>
<br />
Having celebrated its tenth anniversary in 2012, Magnormos, Melbourne's own musical theatre company, looks set to have a big year in 2013. They will be remounting the new Australian musical about The Mamas and The Papas, <i>Flowerchildren</i>, at the Comedy Theatre in Melbourne.<br />
<br />
With a book by local theatre maven, Peter Fitzpatrick, and featuring many of the hits of Mama Cass and The Mamas and the Papas, this show was a hit at Melbourne's Theatreworks in St Kilda in 2011. Casey Donovan, a former Australian Idol winner, and in her first musical theatre performance, channelled Mama Cass to perfection. Hopefully, she will return with original cast members Matt Hetherington, Laura Fitzpatrick and Dan Humphris, for this encore season.<br />
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<i><b>Stephen Schwartz Triptych</b></i><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.magnormos.com/stephenschwartztriptych.htm">http://www.magnormos.com/stephenschwartztriptych.htm</a></div>
<br />
At the OzMade Musicals concert in August, it was exciting news to hear that Magnormos will be staging a trio Stephen Schwartz musicals in 2013 at the Melbourne Recital Centre. This follows the success of their Stephen Sondheim Triptych in 2011, and their Jerry Herman Triptych in 2012, at the same venue.<br />
<br />
The three Schwartz shows to be presented are still under wraps and will be announced, along with casting, in the new year. There is much speculation as to the musicals that will be chosen. I'm voting for the shows <i>Rags</i>, <i>Personals</i>, and <i>The Magic Show</i>. I strongly suspect, though, that the program will include <i>The Baker's Wife</i>, which has a wonderful score, and <i>Godspell</i>, of which I'm not a big fan. The shows will be presented as one-night only performances over three Monday nights in September 2013, and Stephen Schwartz himself will be coming out to Australia for the season.<br />
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<i><b>Warhorse</b></i><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://warhorseonstage.com/tickets/melbourne">http://warhorseonstage.com/tickets/melbourne</a></div>
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A play, you ask? Why yes: I do see straight theatre!<br />
<br />
<i>Warhorse</i> has seen a number of incarnations. It started as the popular 1982 children's book by Michael Morpurgo. It was then adapted for the stage by Nick Stafford, and has seen huge success in London and New York. Most recently, it was made into a popular 2011 film by none other than Stephen Spielberg.<br />
<br />
But the beauty and uniqueness of the stage production of <i>Warhorse</i> lies in the stunning portrayal of the horses, by actors using life-sized horse-figure puppets. We're very fortunate to be receiving this production from January 2013, based on the original London show. This engaging tale of a boy and his horse, and his adventures in the conflicts of World War One, is sure to move Melbourne audiences, if not by the story itself, then from the wonderful staging. This is a hot ticket show; I'm glad I booked mine ages ago.<br />
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<i><b>Driving Miss Daisy</b></i><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.daisyonstage.com.au/">http://www.daisyonstage.com.au/</a></div>
<br />
Speaking of hot theatre tickets, I've also already got mine for this tour of the Broadway play, <i>Driving Miss Daisy</i>. When you hear the names Angela Lansbury and James Earl Jones in the same sentence as 'Australian tour', well, I didn't even really need to be told what the play was!<br />
<br />
You'll no doubt be familiar with the Oscar-winning 1989 film, <i>Driving Miss Daisy</i>, starring the equally wonderful Jessica Tandy and Morgan Freeman. The film was based on the play, which has had a sell-out revival on Broadway recently. Set in the deep south of America, it's the story of an older woman and her black driver. With the consummate skills and star power of the two leads, and a by-turns moving and amusing story, this show will sell out very quickly in it's tour of Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide.<br />
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<i><b>One Man, To Guvnors</b></i><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.mtc.com.au/tickets/production.aspx?performanceNumber=5299">http://www.mtc.com.au/tickets/production.aspx?performanceNumber=5299</a></div>
<br />
This is an Australian production of the comic play <i>One Man, Two Guvnors.</i> I've previously written about the filmed stage version of the original English production of this hilarious piece <a href="http://abusicals.blogspot.com.au/2012/07/national-theatre-live.html" target="_blank">here</a>. As Molly Meldrum would say: do yourself a favour! Honestly, this play is <i>hilarious</i>. It should be a stand-out of the 2013 Melbourne Theatre Company (MTC) season.<br />
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<i><b>Chitty Chitty Bang Bang</b></i><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.chittychitty.com.au/">http://www.chittychitty.com.au/</a></div>
<br />
A reminder to get in and book for this <i>Chitty</i>, which I've previously written about <a href="http://abusicals.blogspot.com.au/search?q=chitty" target="_blank">here</a>. This heart-warming musical is sure to delight. Who doesn't like a flying car on stage?!<br />
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<i><b>King Kong</b></i><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://kingkongliveonstage.com/">http://kingkongliveonstage.com/</a></div>
<br />
Another reminder to get in and book for <i>Kong,</i> which is have its world premiere in Melbourne next year. I've also previously written about this show <a href="http://abusicals.blogspot.com.au/2012/08/coming-soon-king-kong.html" target="_blank">here</a>. Excitement is definitely building for this show, especially since the large signage went up at The Regent Theatre, and after they released a lavish promotional video clip for the show.<br />
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<i><b>The Addams Family</b></i><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.addamsfamilythemusical.com.au/">http://www.addamsfamilythemusical.com.au/</a></div>
<br />
<i>Addams Family</i> is another show which will no doubt tickle our collective funny bones. I've previously written about <a href="http://abusicals.blogspot.com.au/2012/11/new-musicals.html" target="_blank">here</a>. <i>Da da da da click click!</i><br />
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<i><b>I Dreamed a Dream</b></i><br />
<br />
People, three words: Susan Boyle musical. I've previously mentioned it <a href="http://abusicals.blogspot.com.au/search?q=dreamed" target="_blank">here</a>. Take your mother and your grandmother; thank me — or <i>curse</i> me — later.<br />
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<i><b>Ghost</b></i><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.ghostthemusical.com/">http://www.ghostthemusical.com/</a></div>
<br />
I've previously written about <i>Ghost</i> <a href="http://abusicals.blogspot.com.au/2012/09/coming-soon-ghost-musical.html" target="_blank">here</a>. Sadly, is appears that this production has been postponed indefinitely. The London production did quite well, but not so the New York one. And with a large budget required for the effects essential to the show — and that <i>any</i> professional musical staging is a hugely expensive affair — we may not see this show for some time.<br />
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<i><b>Strange Bedfellows</b></i><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.showbiz.com.au/strange-bedfellows/">http://www.showbiz.com.au/strange-bedfellows/</a></div>
<br />
I fear that this long-delayed/postponed stage musical version of the Australian movie may have disappeared from the theatrical radar. <i>Strange Bedfellows</i> had, by all accounts, a successful preview season in Albury, country Victoria, in 2011. I do wish now that I'd made the effort, and the long drive out, to see it.<br />
<br />
Starring John Wood and Peter Cousens — in a humorous story of two men pretending to be in a relationship for tax purposes — the <i>Bedfellows</i> cast was rounded out by the equally wonderfully Lucy Durack and Melissa Langton. The website for this show has been taken down, and there seems no new word from actor/producer Spencer McLaren that this show will be staged in the near future. It's a pity, because this was to be a new Australian musical work, which showed much promise in its score and amusing storyline.<br />
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<i><b>Les Misérables</b></i><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://preferredseating.com.au/vip/waitlistitem/761/les-miserables-tickets/">http://preferredseating.com.au/vip/waitlistitem/761/les-miserables-tickets/</a></div>
<br />
Like myself, many a show-tune queen has been waiting for an update on this long-rumoured new Australian production of <i>Les Mis</i>. Cameron Macintosh is still to make any further announcements about dates or theatres for a national tour. I would have thought 2013 would have been excellent timing for this show, if only to capitalise on the impending film version of the musical, featuring our own Hugh Jackman and Russell Crowe.<br />
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<i><b>Strictly Ballroom: The Musica</b>l</i><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://preferredseating.com.au/vip/waitlistitem/1285/strictly-ballroom-musical-tickets/?gclid=CPL62oSovrMCFQQcpQodRRUATg">http://preferredseating.com.au/vip/waitlistitem/1285/strictly-ballroom-musical-tickets/?gclid=CPL62oSovrMCFQQcpQodRRUATg</a></div>
<br />
We've also been holding out for further information on a mounting of the stage musical version of the classic Australian film, <i>Strictly Ballroom</i>. A workshop was held in Sydney in 2010/2011, but news has been quiet since then. With Baz Luhrmann having been extremely busy with his film adaption of <i>The Great Gatsby</i>, it seems that the development of this show has been held up.<br />
<br />
Latest word, though, is that producers for <i>Strictly Ballroom</i> are eyeing a September 2013 opening in Sydney. It seems the NSW government has been putting quite a bit of money and effort into encouraging musicals to open their runs in Sydney. Of course, this is wonderful news for Melbourne theatre fans, yet only if the shows get legs and tour. This hasn't been the case for a recent Australian premiere production like <i>An Officer and a Gentlemen,</i> which opened and closed in Sydney after a short run, apparently without recouping much of its investment.<br />
<br />
<i><b>And Afternoon with Stephen Sondheim</b></i><br />
<br />
and<br />
<i><br /></i>
<i><b>A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum</b></i><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://premier.ticketek.com.au/shows/show.aspx?sh=STEPHENS12#.UJsVU-MaeGo">http://premier.ticketek.com.au/shows/show.aspx?sh=STEPHENS12#.UJsVU-MaeGo</a></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.funnything.com.au/">http://www.funnything.com.au/</a></div>
<br />
My last theatre outings for 2012 will be Sondheim-related, which is wonderful news! Stephen Sondheim, musical theatre legend, is coming out to Australia for the Melbourne season his comedy musical, <i>A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum</i>.<br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Forum</i> is currently playing at Her Majesty's Theatre. On Friday, 23 November, Sondheim will take the <i>Forum</i> stage, to be interviewed by Ray Martin. A variety of performers will also be on-hand to dazzle us with songs from his various shows. After two postponements of this event — Sondheim apparently suffered an injury and had to delay his flight out — there are many show-tune-queens poised with their autograph books for his arrival. Myself included!<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
Photo credit:</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://adouchi.blogspot.com.au/2010_11_01_archive.html">http://adouchi.blogspot.com.au/2010_11_01_archive.html</a></div>
<br />Aaronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07848465204648545676noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6183218564401295512.post-91794398604890884702012-11-07T23:05:00.000+11:002012-11-07T23:05:11.696+11:00Writing<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-exBH6Mo8Qpk/UJpKmFq8RAI/AAAAAAAAAm8/ysKVTFok2BA/s1600/SNOOPY.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="160" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-exBH6Mo8Qpk/UJpKmFq8RAI/AAAAAAAAAm8/ysKVTFok2BA/s320/SNOOPY.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The writer's life</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Boy, have I learned some things about writing this year. And I don't think I'll <i>ever</i> stop learning about writing.<br />
<br />
Here are a few of the biggies.<br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Just write.</i> Turn up at the keyboard on a regular basis and just write. It doesn’t matter what I write. The act of writing itself is learning. And I will get better the more I write. I know I have this year. As Dean Koontz says: ‘Say it as simply and clearly, and shortly as possible.’ I have a way to go on this, of course.<br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Write what I see.</i> One of the reasons my writing is large on detail is that I write what I see in the movie in my mind. <i>All</i> of it. And it’s often a tad too much.<br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Check for ‘-ly’</i>. Keep those pesky adverbs under control. As Editor O’Connell says: ‘Adverbs are the <i>devil</i>.’<br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Check for ‘—ing’</i>. Passive forms of the verb too often creep into my writing again and again. They're useful, but used to excess, they can take the punch out of my writing.<br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Commas.</i> Commas: commas for everyone! I think this is my mantra. They help my readers more easily digest and make sense of my writing by allowing those essential pauses to breathe mentally.<br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Check for ‘its’ and ‘it’s’</i>. I often let these slip by in my pieces.<br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Writing is hard work.</i> But it's also very rewarding. And when I get into a state of 'flow’ whilst writing, the writing really does just <i>flow</i>.<br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Watch out for mitigating words</i>. ‘Somewhat.’ ‘Appears.’ ‘Like.’ ‘Seems.’ etc. They take the punch out of my writing.<br />
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The biggest one: <i>fail better</i>. If a piece of mine doesn’t really work on one or more levels, next time it may not work either, but even if it still fails, it will <i>fail better</i>.<br />
<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
Aaronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07848465204648545676noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6183218564401295512.post-87368665978990698252012-11-05T21:52:00.001+11:002012-11-05T21:52:07.760+11:00New musicals<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Aky-8GWFoyg/UJeST7XuYII/AAAAAAAAAmc/SotzvMzMjtI/s1600/BOX.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="212" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Aky-8GWFoyg/UJeST7XuYII/AAAAAAAAAmc/SotzvMzMjtI/s320/BOX.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Coming soon to Melbourne theatres</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Hot off the press: Melbourne's 'The Age' newspaper shared the goss this week about some new musicals coming to Melbourne.<br />
<br />
<i>Margaret Fulton: Queen of the Dessert</i><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.theage.com.au/entertainment/theatre/musical-soothes-the-dessert-storm-20121102-28omv.html">http://www.theage.com.au/entertainment/theatre/musical-soothes-the-dessert-storm-20121102-28omv.html</a></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
This new local show about the doyenne of the kitchen, Margaret Fulton, opens at Theatreworks in St Kilda in just a couple of weeks. Starring the talented and gorgeous Amanda Lehpamer as Fulton, it looks very promising and <i>very</i> Australian.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.theatreworks.org.au/whatson/event/?id=138">http://www.theatreworks.org.au/whatson/event/?id=138</a></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<i>Devo: The Musical</i></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.theage.com.au/entertainment/musicals/devo-set-to-whip-up-present-from-the-past-20121102-28pfp.html">http://www.theage.com.au/entertainment/musicals/devo-set-to-whip-up-present-from-the-past-20121102-28pfp.html</a></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
It seems that everything old is new again for 80s band, Devo. They're in the midst of writing a musical, and are aiming for Broadway. Hmm ... I'll believe this one when I see it.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<i>I Dreamed a Dream</i></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.theage.com.au/entertainment/theatre/boyles-dream-run-heads-down-under-20121105-28tea.html">http://www.theage.com.au/entertainment/theatre/boyles-dream-run-heads-down-under-20121105-28tea.html</a></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
A new English musical about the rise and rise of Susan Boyle, featuring a jukebox catalogue of her famous songs. This will do <i>huge</i> business, even moreso if 'La Boyle' comes out to do some concerts around the same time. God bless you, 'SuBo': keep releasing those albums, because it keeps me covered for Christmas and birthday gifts for my mother.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://susanboylemusical.com.au/">http://susanboylemusical.com.au/</a></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
Aaronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07848465204648545676noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6183218564401295512.post-61929582390301336742012-11-03T16:43:00.000+11:002012-11-03T16:43:35.607+11:00Colour<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-we2FUJGZM5w/UJSnmvp2CSI/AAAAAAAAAl8/S6rj9WbJ5FQ/s1600/PANTONE.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-we2FUJGZM5w/UJSnmvp2CSI/AAAAAAAAAl8/S6rj9WbJ5FQ/s320/PANTONE.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pantone authority</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
A little colour humour for the weekend. ; )<br />
<br />
We've been feverishly working on our student publication, <i>INfusion 47,</i> in recent weeks. The print version will be in black and white (we're on a budget, doncha know) but the cover will be in colour. Oh, the discussions the Design team has had about colours and tones and resolution and images. I'm mighty glad to have been on the Editing team (I was on the Management team for last semester's <i>INfusion 46, </i>making good use of my PA skills).<br />
<br />
That said, I did a copyedit of the entire manuscript this week, <i>o sole mio</i>. Man, that was a learning curve. It was great experience for when I get out in the big, wide world of editing and writing. But it was also a bit scary. I'm hoping that my previous 'serial-killer' penmanship — all in my red editor's pen — is clear for our Design team, who are keying the changes into InDesign in coming days. Dearly beloved: pray for me that I have picked up all of the small corrections to be made!<br />
<br />
I'm going to be working on the ebook version of <i>INfusion 47</i> in coming weeks, too, which we'll be uploading to the NMIT website soon thereafter. I'll include the link here on the blog when it's all done and dusted. I've got four photos and two stories in this issue, which is a little bit exciting. I'm also currently working on the process of converting last semester's <i>INfusion 46</i> into an ebook, so we can upload that as well. I had two stories and four photos include included in that one, which was <i>loverly</i>.<br />
<br />
And wish me luck, folks, as I head into the final curve of my course!<br />
<br />
To find out more about the Pantone Matching System for colours:<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pantone">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pantone</a></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://au.pantone.com/pages/pantone/index.aspx">http://au.pantone.com/pages/pantone/index.aspx</a></div>
<br />
Image credit:<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://thingslikethat.tumblr.com/post/595507536/colourful-language">http://thingslikethat.tumblr.com/post/595507536/colourful-language</a></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
Aaronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07848465204648545676noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6183218564401295512.post-56967481888314318812012-11-01T21:38:00.000+11:002012-11-01T21:38:14.813+11:00Lists<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-OZJO7BndVjs/UJJK1bfNPAI/AAAAAAAAAlc/VkbZXSoWxM0/s1600/BOOKS.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="257" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-OZJO7BndVjs/UJJK1bfNPAI/AAAAAAAAAlc/VkbZXSoWxM0/s320/BOOKS.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mmm ... books ...</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Ko-Ko: 'I've got a little list, I've got a little list ...' ('As some day it may happen' from <i>The Mikado</i>.)<br />
<br />
I think it's great to keep lists. I didn't used to, though. Oh, I keep 'to do' lists. I'm a veteran of those. It's the only way I keep myself organised. I have many, many 'to do' lists: daily, weekly, monthly, by theme, college-related, home-oriented, things to buy or see or read, people to send flying monkeys after ...<br />
<br />
But my long-time friend James introduced me to the idea of keeping lists about books that I've read. I resisted for a long time — partly because he's a voracious reader and I felt intimidated! — but then I embraced the idea, and I haven't looked back.<br />
<br />
I then extended the concept to lists of movies and TV shows. And when I was finally going through my theatre programs list several years ago, I put together my theatre-viewing lists over the last thirty years or so, too. I can't tell you how happy I was to finally have all of my theatre programs, divided up by year, in magazine stands on the shelf. Ah, the life of an obsessive-compulsive.<br />
<br />
Where was I?<br />
<br />
Oh, yes. So, each year now, I keep a running tally of all of everything I 'consume'. I thought I'd share my current list totals with you for a chuckle. I'll pop back at the end of the year with the complete totals and we can compare and contrast then. I might even put up the full lists of all of the titles, too.<br />
<br />
<b>Books read:</b> 35. This includes 5 novellas and 19 books I've read for college.<br />
<br />
<b>Short stories read:</b> 10. I added this list in 2012 because I'd started reading individual short stories for college.<br />
<br />
<b>Movies viewed: </b>25. This includes 10 at the cinema.<br />
<br />
<b>TV shows followed:</b> 5. This list is fairly lean this year. Because I've been studying, I just haven't had the time to watch TV. Indeed, my TV often remains off for weeks and weeks at a time nowadays. (Thank God my mother keeps me up-to-date on current affairs.) I have a long list of TV shows I want to catch up on.<br />
<br />
<b>Theatre attended:</b> 28. I would love to have gone to more theatre this year, but I just didn't have enough time. And living on Austudy and savings this year hasn't help. I still have a couple of more shows to looks forward to this year, though.<br />
<br />
When it comes to books, please pop over to <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/">www.goodreads.com</a> and have a look for me. I've become a big fan of theirs in recent months. I've listed all of the books that I've read this year, along with a one-to-five-star rating for them, as well as the book that I'm currently reading. It's a fun website, and a great way to keep in touch with friends and their reading habits. Think of it as a 'Reader's Facebook'.<br />
<br />
What are you reading at the moment?<br />
<br />Aaronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07848465204648545676noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6183218564401295512.post-18378864889921513592012-10-18T21:06:00.000+11:002012-10-18T21:06:54.575+11:00Venn diagrams<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-XzB9gzd2mxQ/UH_NlTpR91I/AAAAAAAAAk8/a7eOvXnnGM8/s1600/GOOD.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="302" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-XzB9gzd2mxQ/UH_NlTpR91I/AAAAAAAAAk8/a7eOvXnnGM8/s320/GOOD.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
Remember in primary school when you learnt all about how important Venn diagrams were? Then you never saw one again?<br />
<br />
Until someone created internet memes ...<br />
<br />
This one's pretty awesome, though, and appeals to the new-found sense of creativity that I've discovered in my writing this year. If you're like me, you're aiming for that red sweet spot. I was thinking today: if I could create a balance amongst the elements of my life — my relationship, my friends and family, my work, my health, my finances, <i>and</i> my writing — then life would be pretty damn good.<br />
<br />
Here's hoping!<br />
<br />
<br />Aaronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07848465204648545676noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6183218564401295512.post-42125652513206761032012-10-17T21:09:00.000+11:002012-10-17T21:09:17.404+11:00Win!<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/--M71nqfiYnA/UHu59Xqob4I/AAAAAAAAAkc/M4rxX9oZZ4g/s1600/BOX+HILL.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/--M71nqfiYnA/UHu59Xqob4I/AAAAAAAAAkc/M4rxX9oZZ4g/s1600/BOX+HILL.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Box Hill Institute of TAFE</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
It's nice to have a win occasionally!<br />
<br />
So, on Friday evening I was catching up on my mail, which had gotten away from me during the week a bit, because it was my first week back at college. I was clearing out the spam folder in my Gmail account. Amongst all of the emails there — many of them strongly suggesting that I purchase vast quantities of industrial-strength Viagra — I happened to stumble across the following ...<br />
<br />
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<!--StartFragment-->
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span lang="EN-US">'Dear Aaron<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span lang="EN-US">Congratulations!
"Where There's Smoke ..." has won the $150 2nd Prize in the 2012 Avant
Press-Box Hill Institute Short Story Competition. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span lang="EN-US">Your story will be
published in the 2012 Avant Anthology. You will receive a complimentary copy
when it is launched on Thursday 6 December (at a venue to be decided). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span lang="EN-US">Can you please
email us the Word file of "Where There's Smoke ..." so we can edit it
for house style.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span lang="EN-US">We will email you
an approval copy before going to press.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span lang="EN-US">In November, you
will receive an official letter from the Box Hill TAFE Administration
requesting your banking details for electronic payment of your $150.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span lang="EN-US">Congratulations
once again!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span lang="EN-US">Best regards<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span lang="EN-US">The Avant Press
Team'<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span lang="EN-US">How exciting! This is my first competition prize! I mean, I had a piece published earlier in the year in the NMIT 'Time to Write' anthology — which was <i>fabulous</i> — but this is my first <i>cash</i> prize! And it's from another TAFE. Whoo and hoo!</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span lang="EN-US">I'm afraid I'll have to keep you in suspenders about the story until the anthology has been published, but then I'll post it here for y'all to read. But what I <i>can</i> tell you is that the theme of the competition was 'disasters'. My story was about a woman coming home to her house on fire, and the heroic efforts she then pursues. It was based on an exercise for my Novel class, so a big thanks goes to my Novel teacher, Louise, for setting that assignment!</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span lang="EN-US">Needless to say, all of the fame and wealth has gone to my head, and I've become insufferable to live with.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span lang="EN-US">Here's the link to the Box Hill website with the announcement, too.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 26.666667938232422px;"><a href="http://www.bhtafe.edu.au/courses/CI/Pages/short-story-competition-2011.aspx">http://www.bhtafe.edu.au/courses/CI/Pages/short-story-competition-2011.aspx</a></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 26.666667938232422px;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 26.666667938232422px;">Photo credit: Box Hill Institute</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 26.666667938232422px;"><a href="http://www.bhtafe.edu.au/">http://www.bhtafe.edu.au/</a></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 26.666667938232422px;"><br /></span></div>
<!--EndFragment-->Aaronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07848465204648545676noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6183218564401295512.post-23538842322652404752012-10-15T17:07:00.001+11:002012-10-15T17:07:25.476+11:00Advances<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-khslMAJnK4E/UHuYzIRWYZI/AAAAAAAAAj8/_isI9Tal54U/s1600/MONEY-BOOK.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="212" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-khslMAJnK4E/UHuYzIRWYZI/AAAAAAAAAj8/_isI9Tal54U/s320/MONEY-BOOK.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Big name authors = big advances</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Just popping my head back in the door of the blog. I'll be back again soon; hopefully more regularly! : )<br />
<br />
In the meantime, an interesting article from 'The Age' about authors who take advances but don't deliver the books that they're contracted to write. If you're a well-known celebrity, you can often score yourself a substantial advance on a book.<br />
<br />
But in more a more competitive book market, publishers are focussing on the business of making money and have to recoup their losses. I wonder what the ratio is between famous people not delivering on their promises, compared to all the hard-working writers out there trying to actually earn a crust from writing, and who do the right thing?<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.theage.com.au/entertainment/books/sorry-tales-that-come-back-to-haunt-writers-20121012-27ijc.html">http://www.theage.com.au/entertainment/books/sorry-tales-that-come-back-to-haunt-writers-20121012-27ijc.html</a></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
Photo credit:</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.simoncotter.com/ideas-selling-printed-books-is-a-quick-way-to-make-money.html">http://www.simoncotter.com/ideas-selling-printed-books-is-a-quick-way-to-make-money.html</a></div>
<br />Aaronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07848465204648545676noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6183218564401295512.post-13065389339978193472012-10-05T21:39:00.000+10:002012-10-05T21:39:33.673+10:00'The Next Day'<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ju44Gp4i34k/UG67MmfgmdI/AAAAAAAAAjc/QTKaYBiBLbk/s1600/HOUSE.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ju44Gp4i34k/UG67MmfgmdI/AAAAAAAAAjc/QTKaYBiBLbk/s320/HOUSE.jpg" width="202" /></a></div>
<br />
To ease you into your weekend, here's a creepy little story from yours truly.<br />
<br />
This was my very first piece of fiction writing for my course this year. It was published in 'INfusion 46', our NMIT student publication. I've tweaked it a little for this version. It's short and sweet. Indeed, it's the shortest thing by far that I've written for college this year!<br />
<br />
I think I could adapt this into a longer work for young adult readers. I'm intrigued by the ideas behind it, which I'd like to explore. I'll let you know how I go.<br />
<br />
Please to enjoy.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
***</div>
<br />
<br />
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<br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: inherit;">‘The Next Day’<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="Default" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #141414;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">She
was awoken by a sudden white flash. The thin blanket of sleep slipped away. She
held her breath against the rumbling of the early dawn.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="Default" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #141414;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">She counted, getting as far as five. Another flash. She
counted again, only getting to four.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="Default" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #141414;"><i>It's coming quickly this
time</i></span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #141414;">, she thought.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="Default" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #141414;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Her cold skin prickled from the ozone. She was completely
awake. On the bed that had been <i>his</i>,
she pushed back the stained quilt. She never slept deeply these days. No-one
did.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="Default" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #141414;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">She glanced up towards the sound of rain tapping on
corrugated iron. She hoped she had sealed the roof tightly enough. She’d used
all of the resin that she could find in his workshop. You couldn't trust the
rain. You couldn't let it touch you. And you couldn’t let it <i>in</i>. Not anymore. The days of carefree
walks in the rain with her father were past now. The days of trusting the rain —
of trusting <i>anything</i> — were long
gone.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="Default" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #141414;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The initial silence was replaced by a sudden roar. The
rain was very quick. It was getting quicker each day. It could sneak up on you
if you weren't careful. The rain could hide other noises if you weren’t
careful, too.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="Default" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #141414;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Her gaze shifted to the door. She strained to hear over
the storm. The old-fashioned key was still in the lock. She should still be
safe, even if he came back. But, like many things in this house, the lock
wasn’t very strong.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="Default" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #141414;"><i>Myself included</i></span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #141414;"><i>.</i><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="Default" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #141414;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">She stared out the window. She ignored the faint
reflection of herself — a skinny, unremarkable girl with long brown hair. It
was her mother’s hair, but with some of her father’s copper highlights through
it. It was a face of dark hollows, and darker, empty eyes. She looked past
herself and allowed her mind the rare luxury to wander. No-one let their
concentration lapse for too long, not if they valued their safety. But the
locked door was a measure of protection — for the time being, anyway.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="Default" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #141414;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">She stretched out her awareness to the roiling sky. Her
eyes widened, taking in the view.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="Default" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #141414;"><i>Weather is too large to be
concerned about someone’s death</i></span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #141414;"><i>. Weather is vast. Weather stretches across
countries, across the planet. The weather here is just a tiny part of a pattern
within patterns within patterns. There's a reason The Scientists can’t make
rain, or make it </i></span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #141414; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">stop</span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #141414;"><i> raining for that matter. The Forecasters
might be able to give some vague predictions about weather based on years of
gathered information, but you can’t ever reliably say what the weather the next
day — or the next hour — will be like. And you can never create weather or try
to control it. The Rainmakers had tried that once and everyone now knew the
disaster </i>that<i> had become.<o:p></o:p></i></span></span></div>
<div class="Default" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<i><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #141414;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">But
life goes on. So too, it seems, does death. Sometimes death goes on in a cruel
parody of life. That happened quite a lot these days. Life and death go on, and
so does the weather. The million small dramas people wake up to every day
doesn't matter to the weather. It doesn't care about what happened to you
yesterday. It doesn't care about your sanity, or your safety. It's weather.
It's just too damned large to worry about you. It’s too damned big to care. But
we have to worry about the weather and life and death.<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<div class="Default" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #141414;">Today, she had to worry about all three. Especially
death. In particular,</span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #141414;"> <i>his</i></span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #141414;"> death. She
hoped his death would be permanent, and that her life would continue.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="Default" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #141414;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>I don’t want to have to kill
my father again.</i><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="Default" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Across
the room, the doorknob rattled.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<!--EndFragment--><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">© Aaron Hughes 2012</span></div>
<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
Photo credit:</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.adamgoldfein.com/2012/06/haunted-places-in-georgia/old-farmhouse-stormy-sky/">http://www.adamgoldfein.com/2012/06/haunted-places-in-georgia/old-farmhouse-stormy-sky/</a></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
Aaronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07848465204648545676noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6183218564401295512.post-56746511329491675322012-09-28T18:52:00.000+10:002012-09-28T18:52:55.017+10:00I know this to be true<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/--0maJVTHkdw/UGVhrpYj4hI/AAAAAAAAAjA/B8haqdd12lg/s1600/RAINY.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/--0maJVTHkdw/UGVhrpYj4hI/AAAAAAAAAjA/B8haqdd12lg/s320/RAINY.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>
<br />
Today was to be my return to the blog. After a recent bout of unwellness, which has laid me low and kept me from posting for much longer that I had hoped, I had wanted to come back with something lightly amusing and entertaining for you all to ease you into the weekend.<br />
<br />
But, like many Melbournians today, I'm feeling quite deflated. For those of you who are interstate, or if you choose not to follow the news — and after today, I'm thinking more power to you — I'm talking about the tragic death of Jill Meagher.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/shocked-public-shows-its-grief-20120928-26oyb.html">http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/shocked-public-shows-its-grief-20120928-26oyb.html</a></div>
<br />
I haven't known what to do today to channel my sadness. Then I was in the shower a little earlier and I thought: write it out, Aaron, just write it out.<br />
<br />
So here I am.<br />
<br />
Firstly, I talked with my Mum today, and that helped us both. Mum's a bit of a homebody, and so she's been following the case all week on TV. She needed to talk it out, too. Now I need to encourage her to step away from the TV and radio a bit to get some perspective.<br />
<br />
You know — and I know this sounds a bit macabre, but go with me on this — Ma even got me to check the fenced-off alleyway, which runs down next to our house, early in the week. It hadn't even occurred to me, but we're not that very far from where Jill was abducted. Like me, Ma was worried for Jill, but realistic enough to know that there was little likelihood after several days that she would be found alive. She wanted closure for Jill's husband and family. It strikes me as incredibly sad that closure could come from something like checking an alleyway. But somewhere out there in Melbourne in recent days, a series of good, helpful people checked and re-checked things and places, and asked the right questions, and now Jill's family has closure, tragic as it is.<br />
<br />
My partner's been busy at work today, and we won't get a chance to chat until tonight. When I do, I'll be saying to him the same thing that I said to my Mum earlier: <i>I love you</i>. Because that's all you can do; actually tell the people you love that you love them, and then hope for the best for them in life. I can only imagine what Jill's husband and family must be going through. The only consolation I can think of is that she knew she was loved, and that she loved them. They will always carry that love with them.<br />
<br />
As I sat on the tram on the way to college today, it started raining. I thought that even Melbourne's weather has been affected by the sadness of Jill's death. I could feel it in the mood of people on the tram and at college.<br />
<br />
I managed to chat with a couple of friends and a teacher at college today. That definitely helped. It was some consolation that other people are feeling like this; that vague sense that all really isn't right with the world today, and a great tragedy has occurred amongst us. Moreso, that the many people who knew Jill are now in unspeakable pain, which will take a long time to leave them. To those people, I send whatever good metaphysical thoughts and love that I can.<br />
<br />
At the end of class today, my teacher made the excellent point that, in 2012, in a capital city, in Australia, any woman should be able to walk down the street at any time of day and feel safe. Hell: she could be <i>naked</i>, and she should still feel safe. To think that a woman isn't safe like that is part of the enduring tragedy of Jill's death. As a gay man, I know that it's not even necessarily safe for a <i>man</i> to walk down the street on their own in certain circumstances.<br />
<br />
I don't have any easy answers for this. I wish I did. Instead, I encourage you to have a quiet word with your sisters and girlfriends and wives, your mums and aunts and grandmothers, and remind them to take that little bit more care when they venture out. Walk your friend to their tram stop or to the train station. Ask your friend to text you as soon as they get home safely. If they don't, then text them to check. For the rest of us — guys <i>and</i> gals — also remember that if you see anyone being hassled, or if you see something not quite right, be the one to step up and say something. You could help to save a life. It's like they say on the many motivational blogs that I follow: <i>be</i> the change that you want to effect.<br />
<br />
We lost one of our own today. A bright, lively, intelligent, beautiful woman, who was loved by many, and whose memory is now known by many, many more. A vibrant, young Irish woman, come to Melbourne with her husband for a new life. I can only hope that she found great love and happiness in her life.<br />
<br />
If you are as sad today as I am but you can't shake it, then talk to someone — talk it out — and soon. A friend, a colleague, a neighbour, a relative, your partner. Or call Lifeline on 13 11 14. Don't <i>ever</i> be ashamed of reaching out for help.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.lifeline.org.au/">http://www.lifeline.org.au/</a></div>
<br />
Now go and tell your family that you love them. Do it: <i>right now.</i><br />
<br />
Vale Gillian Meagher.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
Photo credit:</div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1950satomicranchhouse.blogspot.com.au/2010/10/beautiful-rainy-day-and-thank-you.html">http://1950satomicranchhouse.blogspot.com.au/2010/10/beautiful-rainy-day-and-thank-you.html</a></div>
<br />Aaronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07848465204648545676noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6183218564401295512.post-31885646187463384772012-09-21T22:34:00.000+10:002012-09-21T22:34:42.851+10:00‘It’s My Birthday and I’ll Die (of Embarrassment) If I Want To’<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WgBtYDTuwaw/UFxXrStLm9I/AAAAAAAAAik/UOtomENPxkI/s1600/70s.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WgBtYDTuwaw/UFxXrStLm9I/AAAAAAAAAik/UOtomENPxkI/s320/70s.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
As threatened — I mean, promised — here is a little story from yours truly.<br />
<br />
Please to note that this is <i>not</i> memoir! Because it's written in a voice very much like mine own, quite a few fellow students in my course thought that it was a real occurrence! Yes, I did faint at one of my early birthday parties, but the rest is purely invention. Mostly.<br />
<br />
Well, my father, was known on occasion to dress in a frock. And he <i>did</i> give me my first wig. Let's just say that, in some ways, this apple did not fall very far from that particular tree ...<br />
<br />
Oh, and this was published last semester in our NMIT limited-run student publication, 'INfusion 46'. We're soon to convert it into an ebook and release it on an unsuspecting public, so stay tuned.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
***</div>
<br />
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<!--StartFragment-->
</div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: inherit;">‘It’s My Birthday<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: inherit;">and I’ll Die (of
Embarrassment)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: inherit;">If I Want To’<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<!--EndFragment--><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150% !msorm; line-height: 200%; mso-prop-change: "AARON HUGHES" 20120921T2155;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="Default" style="line-height: 150% !msorm; line-height: 200%; mso-prop-change: "AARON HUGHES" 20120921T2155;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I
fainted at my twelfth birthday party. Quite embarrassing, really. Strapping
boys don’t faint. Fainting is for little old ladies in Miss Marple novels who
have an ‘attack of the vapours’, as they used to call them. Men could faint in
the olden days, but it was called ‘melancholy’ then.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="Default" style="line-height: 150% !msorm; line-height: 200%; mso-prop-change: "AARON HUGHES" 20120921T2155; text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span lang="EN-US">I’m rather sure that my grandmother
thought I was a melancholic child. She never said as much, but she never needed
to. Old people can say a lot just by giving you the once over and narrowing
their eyes. That’s why old people always say: ‘Come here, let’s have a look at
you.’ They really only need to give you an x-ray stare for a moment and they
have all the information they need. They don’t even have to ask you anything,
and you certainly don’t need to speak. Old people have their ways. I know: my
grandmother was one of seventeen children (well nineteen, if you count the two
who died early), and so I grew up around many, </span><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 200%;">many</span><span lang="EN-US"> old people. <i>Clever</i>, old people.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="Default" style="line-height: 150% !msorm; line-height: 200%; mso-prop-change: "AARON HUGHES" 20120921T2155; text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The fainting thing: I remember that the
cake had just come out — a fabulous iced rainbow confection. Rainbow: now there
was an early irony. Ma had done a sterling job. It was a fresh sponge cake
covered in mock cream; with not one, but two, layers of plum jam in the middle.
Divine!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="Default" style="line-height: 150% !msorm; line-height: 200%; mso-prop-change: "AARON HUGHES" 20120921T2155; text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Does anyone make mock cream anymore? I’ve
only come across it once or twice since I left my hometown. Ma got the ‘family’
recipe from Mr and Mrs Royal of ‘Royal’s Cakes’. Both of the Royals are now
long gone, probably due in no small part to all of that mock cream. I remember
Mr Royal well. He would go on to make my eighteenth birthday cake some years
later, when Ma wanted something ‘fancy’. I remember him eying me up when I
collected the cake. I was well on my way to the husky man that I am today — or
a ‘man of heft’ as I like to call myself — but I still had some youthful muscle
back then rather than just ‘pudge’ (as my boyfriend, Rupert, bitchily refers to
it). Mr Royal took one look at me and I could tell he liked what he saw. I got
a sizeable discount on the cake, I might add. I think I might have gotten a sizeable
gift of other sorts, too, if his wife hadn’t been in the shop with him that
day.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="Default" style="line-height: 150% !msorm; line-height: 200%; mso-prop-change: "AARON HUGHES" 20120921T2155; text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Back to the fainting: there were the
requisite twelve candles on the cake. In the middle was this candle monstrosity
playing ‘Happy Birthday’ in an off-key, Hammond organ tone. I was wedged at the
dining room table, surrounded by scads of family. The air in the room was
rather close, as I remember, and I was overly warm. Ma, in a Bex swoon — as she
had been that day — had dressed me up. I wore a woollen skivvy, heavy flared
denim pants and a knitted vest over the skivvy. I mean, this was the seventies,
after all. There were too many people huddled around me, with too much alcohol
in them and not enough fresh air. They’d turned the lights off minutes before
the cake had begun its slow, stately procession down the hallway, so it was quite
dark. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="Default" style="line-height: 150% !msorm; line-height: 200%; mso-prop-change: "AARON HUGHES" 20120921T2155; text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: inherit;">You know, I don’t think any photos of
that birthday party survived. Good thing, really. My uncle Duncan, the family
photographer, was lousy at chronicling our family affairs. He was always pissed
(albeit in a good-natured way) and so the pictures from his Pocket Brownie were
never really in focus. God, I remember my first Pocket Brownie. That was when
the film cartridge could fall out of the camera; you would just pop it back in,
and you wouldn’t lose a single photo. Not one. I’d had that happen plenty of
times at the school Party Dances. All of my photos came out beautifully,
though. Mind you, they say I had an eye for photography even back then. I was
one of those ‘creative’ children, as my grandmother would say. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="Default" style="line-height: 150% !msorm; line-height: 200%; mso-prop-change: "AARON HUGHES" 20120921T2155; text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: inherit;">‘He doesn’t play sport. He doesn’t go on
dates with the neighbourhood girls. But he can decorate the school Party Dance
within an inch of its life, and he can whip you up a darling little diorama at
the drop of hat.’ She was always narrowing her hooded eyes at my dioramas. <i>Bitch</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="Default" style="line-height: 150% !msorm; line-height: 200%; mso-prop-change: "AARON HUGHES" 20120921T2155; text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The famous Birthday Fainting
(unsurprisingly, they always capitalised it when they spoke of it years later).
There were flickering shadows on the hallway wall as the cake began its stately
progress to the dining room. I hadn’t eaten much all that day, not even at the
party. <i>Particularly</i> not at the party.
As the family fat boy, I didn’t want to confirm everyone’s long-held belief
that I ate everything in sight. They were right, of course, but I refused to
give them the satisfaction of confirming it.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="Default" style="line-height: 150% !msorm; line-height: 200%; mso-prop-change: "AARON HUGHES" 20120921T2155; text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: inherit;">So, recapping: too warm, too many people,
not enough air, and nothing to eat. And half a glass of my grandfather’s Tawny
Port and dry ginger ale, which I’d secretly sculled while he was fixing his
hearing aid. It was a recipe for disaster. A recipe with lashings and lashings
and lashings of frosting, it turned out.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="Default" style="line-height: 150% !msorm; line-height: 200%; mso-prop-change: "AARON HUGHES" 20120921T2155; text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Then suddenly there he was. The Main
Event. <i>My Father</i>. All the ingredients
for the scene were about to be mixed in.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="Default" style="line-height: 150% !msorm; line-height: 200%; mso-prop-change: "AARON HUGHES" 20120921T2155; text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Entrance: kitchen door.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="Default" style="line-height: 150% !msorm; line-height: 200%; mso-prop-change: "AARON HUGHES" 20120921T2155; text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: inherit;">State: inebriated.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="Default" style="line-height: 150% !msorm; line-height: 200%; mso-prop-change: "AARON HUGHES" 20120921T2155; text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Height: six foot nine, resplendent in
six-inch stiletto heals. (Gorgeous they were: black patent leather, with a
cunning little ankle strap, and diamanté clasp.)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="Default" style="line-height: 150% !msorm; line-height: 200%; mso-prop-change: "AARON HUGHES" 20120921T2155; text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Dress: well, a <i>dress</i>, of course. It was the colour of the old song, ‘Midnight
Blue’. With ruffles from here to eternity, Deborah Kerr. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="Default" style="line-height: 150% !msorm; line-height: 200%; mso-prop-change: "AARON HUGHES" 20120921T2155; text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Face: heavily made-up. His close
‘companion’, Leslie, had done a marvellous job on his make-up. Clearly though,
that had been several hours earlier, before Father had started on the
margaritas (his favourite drink). Now his Max Factor was a little worse for wear.
It reminded me of the hoary old line, that drag queens are like classic works
of art: best enjoyed from a distance.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="Default" style="line-height: 150% !msorm; line-height: 200%; mso-prop-change: "AARON HUGHES" 20120921T2155; text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Gift: a medium-sized box, covered in
white satin wrapping paper, festooned with ribbons that had been hand-curled
with a pair of scissors. (My father, a former carpet salesman, who’d left the
family home two years earlier, was then a ‘performer’ in his own ‘cabaret’ show
and had always been handy with a pair of scissors. So, it turned out later, was
my mother; a former florist.)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="Default" style="line-height: 150% !msorm; line-height: 200%; mso-prop-change: "AARON HUGHES" 20120921T2155; text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Apparently I took one, long, mortified
look at my father and his maniacal smile (my cousin, Melinda, says she fully
counted to five during this moment). Then in the best tradition of the theatre,
I’m pleased to say my eyes rolled back, I started to tip, and I went down for
the count. Right onto my grandmother.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="Default" style="line-height: 150% !msorm; line-height: 200%; mso-prop-change: "AARON HUGHES" 20120921T2155; text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: inherit;">And so it began. The rest I heard — in
excruciating detail — from my many, many cousins in the following months.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="Default" style="line-height: 150% !msorm; line-height: 200%; mso-prop-change: "AARON HUGHES" 20120921T2155; text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I collapsed on Nana Patrice, who started
shrieking for (a not unreasonable) fear of being crushed. Father’s smile started
to slide, along with his make-up. Ma looked at the cake, looked back at my
father, and took aim. The cake exited stage left — most of it onto my father’s
plunging décolletage. Ma shrieked and took up the scissors. (She’d rather
foolishly left them on the bureau earlier in the day when she finished trimming
the flowers for the table decorations: once a florist, always a florist. She
was very <i>Mrs Dalloway.</i>)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="Default" style="line-height: 150% !msorm; line-height: 200%; mso-prop-change: "AARON HUGHES" 20120921T2155; text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: inherit;">And she went after him.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="Default" style="line-height: 150% !msorm; line-height: 200%; mso-prop-change: "AARON HUGHES" 20120921T2155; text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Father, to his credit, made it into the
back garden, but his gorgeous high heels were his undoing on the moist grass.
Down he went, a bedazzled sack of potatoes. He managed to turn himself over
just in time to see my mother, now with her own maniacal grin, bearing down on
him. The shriek she uttered will apparently haunt certain members of my family —
Sharelle, I’m looking at you, dear — to the grave.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="Default" style="line-height: 150% !msorm; line-height: 200%; mso-prop-change: "AARON HUGHES" 20120921T2155; text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The casualties?<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="Default" style="line-height: 150% !msorm; line-height: 200%; mso-prop-change: "AARON HUGHES" 20120921T2155; text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Father — amazingly — only needed four
stitches. Ma had only caught him high on the right cheek as she, too, went down
on the grass, martyr to her own stiletto <i>frou-frou</i>
slippers. I ended that day with a fair-sized grapefruit on the side of my head
from where I’d hit my grandmother’s wheelchair frame. Nana displayed the
bruising on her forearms for some weeks afterwards as her battle wounds,
accompanied by an awful lot of her patented eye-narrowing, of course. The cake
was the unluckiest of all, though. The family dog, Macleod, finished off the
last of it from the front of my father’s dress.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="Default" style="line-height: 150% !msorm; line-height: 200%; mso-prop-change: "AARON HUGHES" 20120921T2155; text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: inherit;">And <i>that</i> is the story of the famous
Birthday Fainting episode, starring Yours Truly.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<!--EndFragment--><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
***</div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
© Aaron Hughes 2012</div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.zazzle.com.au/made_in_the_70s_birthday_button-145872751880476503">http://www.zazzle.com.au/made_in_the_70s_birthday_button-145872751880476503</a></div>
<br />
<br />Aaronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07848465204648545676noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6183218564401295512.post-29583111559296057952012-09-19T20:58:00.001+10:002012-09-21T21:54:57.490+10:00Constant Reader ...<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-N3HZKitknI8/UFmigGJoezI/AAAAAAAAAiI/0oRChx_-nl8/s1600/BACK.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="215" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-N3HZKitknI8/UFmigGJoezI/AAAAAAAAAiI/0oRChx_-nl8/s320/BACK.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
Reports of my death are greatly exaggerated.<br />
<br />
It is the end of term three in my course, and I have — by necessity — been drawn to complete many, many items of assessment.<br />
<br />
Verily, pity my teachers. Yesterday afternoon, I submitted the pieces for my 'Novel' subject. Total: 14,000 words. <i>Egad.</i> Today, I submitted the pieces for my 'Symbolism, Poetry and Myth' (together at last, I hear you say?) subject. Total: 10,000 words. <i>Yikes.</i><br />
<br />
Needless to say, I have also organised delivery of vast quantities of caffeine for my teachers; the lovely Louise, and the virtuous Carole. Ladies: God bless you, and all those who sail in you.<br />
<br />
Oh, and I have a cold. Which my partner gave me. Rest assured, I have dispatched the fly monkeys to his current location. They don't wish him any specific harm. But they'll probably mess up his hair. Which he'll hate. He spends quite a little bit of time on it, you see. It is all part of my evil plan. Heh heh heh. But I'll make it up to him. I have a lovely first anniversary gift for him this week. I'm a very, very good boyfriend, doncha know. ; )<br />
<br />
Aaron Hughes will return in the short story: 'It's My Birthday and I'll Die (of Embarrassment) if I Want To'.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://thehortcouturegardener.blogspot.com.au/2011/05/back-soon.html">http://thehortcouturegardener.blogspot.com.au/2011/05/back-soon.html</a></div>
<br />Aaronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07848465204648545676noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6183218564401295512.post-11928119921937450902012-09-14T23:20:00.001+10:002012-09-14T23:20:51.267+10:00Coming soon: The Addams Family<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-E6aXVjhZ8Vc/UFMdqnH4QZI/AAAAAAAAAhs/G0ygLTewMfE/s1600/ADDAMS.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-E6aXVjhZ8Vc/UFMdqnH4QZI/AAAAAAAAAhs/G0ygLTewMfE/s320/ADDAMS.jpeg" width="215" /></a></div>
<span style="line-height: 150%;"><br /></span>
<span style="line-height: 150%;">'Da da da da'
<click> <click>, 'da da da da' <click click> ...</span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span lang="EN-US">Look who's coming
to dinner ...</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span lang="EN-US">'The Addams
Family' musical ran for nearly two years on Broadway, from 2010–2011. With a
current tour across North America, and another one proposed, it's pleasing to
see Australia beat London to the punch for the next major production.
(Surprisingly, there's also a Brazillian production currently running.) The
Australian staging — which may incorporate revised elements brought into the
show during its American tour — opens in Sydney, March 2013.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span lang="EN-US">It's nice to see
another show having its out of town try-out in in NSW. But we all know that the
heart of musical theatre in Australia is Melbourne, don't we, people?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span lang="EN-US">'The Addams
Family' is another in a line of family-friendly shows that are doing brisk
business around the world. Based upon the cartoons of artist Charles Addams,
and made famous in the 1960s TV series of the same name, the Addams family has
also featured in a series of movies over the last decade. This stage production, however, features an all-new
story, and some additional new characters.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span lang="EN-US">The book is by
Oscar-winning Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice of the musical 'Jersey Boys'
fame. Music and lyrics are by Broadway wunderkind, Andrew Lippa, who is most
well-known for his scores of 'The Wild Party' and 'You're a Good Man, Charlie
Brown'. I've not listened to the cast recording of this show in depth, but it
does have some lovely tunes. (Memo to self: Catch up backlog of Broadway and
West End cast recordings. Yikes.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span lang="EN-US">The Australian
cast of 'The Addams Family' was presented to the media for the first time just
last month. This production will be headlined by John Waters and Chloë
Dallimore; respectively, as the debonair Gomez Addams, and the frostily
beautiful Morticia Addams. A legend of Australian television, film and stage,
Waters will no doubt lend his gravitas to this production. High-kicking
Dallimore is well-known to Melbourne audiences from her turn as the sultry
'Ula' in 'The Producers', and more recently as 'Lily St Regis', one of the
villains in 'Annie'.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">Melbourne
performers Ben Hudson and Teagan Wouters respectively appear as the towering
'Lurch' and the Addams' daughter, 'Wednesday'. Indeed, the plot revolves around
Wednesday's love for a 'normal' boy and the ensuing shenanigans and badly-kept
secrets, followed by a dinner party involving both families. With echoes of the
plot of 'La Cage Aux Folles', this should provide fodder for many hilarious
moments.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">I'm very much
looking forward to see how they manage to animate the disembodied hand
character, 'Thing', for this production. 'The Addams Family' musical looks like
it will be a hoot; think 'Thriller' meets 'The Birdcage'. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN-US"><a href="http://addamsfamilythemusical.com.au/">http://addamsfamilythemusical.com.au/</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN-US"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Addams_Family">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Addams_Family</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN-US"><a href="http://www.theaddamsfamilymusicaltour.com/">http://www.theaddamsfamilymusicaltour.com/</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN-US"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Addams_Family_(musical)">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Addams_Family_(musical)</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<!--EndFragment--><br />
<br />Aaronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07848465204648545676noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6183218564401295512.post-11844167752641755672012-09-12T18:36:00.001+10:002012-09-12T18:36:41.833+10:00Reading # 2<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-McTpWKPUHa8/UFBHtx4XWiI/AAAAAAAAAhQ/CYeuI8RfHmo/s1600/READ.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="223" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-McTpWKPUHa8/UFBHtx4XWiI/AAAAAAAAAhQ/CYeuI8RfHmo/s320/READ.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
Back in August, I wrote a short post about reading what you enjoy. Click on the following link to quickly read it. Don't worry, I'll be here when you get back. ; ) <a href="http://abusicals.blogspot.com.au/2012/08/reading.html" target="_blank">'Reading'</a>.<br />
<br />
I don't subscribe to elitism around reading. Ignore the haters. Don't give them the time of day. If someone hassles you on the bus, train or tram (or ferry, for my Brisbane correspondents! Hello!) for reading that Danielle Steel romance, or that James Patterson thriller, try the following.<br />
<br />
- Mark your place in your book. They've already hassled you, so don't let them allow you to lose your page.<br />
<br />
- Smile sweetly. This will disarm them.<br />
<br />
- Reply along the lines of: 'Well, you know, at least I'm reading. So many people never read, don't you find? It's so sad, and terrible for literacy levels. I'm really enjoying escaping into this book. It's well-written and plotted. This is the [insert impressive-sounding number – no-one will mind if you fudge it] book I've read this year.'<br />
<br />
- Then, if the mood takes you:<br />
<br />
- 'What are you reading?'<br />
<br />
- This will force them to defend their own reading. You can then choose to look down your nose at their choice of reading matter. But I hope you'll be encouraging of their reading. : ) And you might just make a friend.<br />
<br />
Oh, and just for the record, Danielle Steel is the fourth best-selling writer of all time, having sold a lazy 800 million books. And James Patterson holds a 'Guinness World Record' for the most bestselling hardcover fiction titles by a single author; a total of 63. That's <i>hardcover</i>, by the way, not paperback. Surely this means that they are producing interesting, intriguing and well-written books?<br />
<br />
Read what you want, I say. More power to you. And never, ever apologise for what you're reading.<br />
<br />
I am revelling in reading one of my favourite authors at the moment, Dean Koontz. Not counting several textbooks, which I'm still working my way through, I've finished reading my novels for college for the year. So, I'm catching up on some of Dean's recent titles. Actually, I feel quite smug. In the same way that I did an assignment on Stephen King last semester, I'm doing an assignment on Dean for college. So I get to read an author I love, then speak and write about him. Better still, I then get to use some of his themes in my creative writing for a piece to submit as part of the project.<br />
<br />
Oh, and my man Dean? He's the world's sixth most highly paid author. I'm sorry, but you don't get to the top without having at least some skill as a writer. Take that, haters!<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danielle_Steel">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danielle_Steel</a></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Patterson">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Patterson</a></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dean_Koontz">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dean_Koontz</a></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://richardmansel.com/tag/humor/">http://richardmansel.com/tag/humor/</a></div>
<br />Aaronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07848465204648545676noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6183218564401295512.post-2890306341730022122012-09-11T23:38:00.000+10:002012-09-12T16:27:55.191+10:00Coming soon — Ghost: The Musical<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-M_dPk6qlNsI/UDcA7hisS-I/AAAAAAAAAYs/uq6hVdO-DkY/s1600/GHOST.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="221" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-M_dPk6qlNsI/UDcA7hisS-I/AAAAAAAAAYs/uq6hVdO-DkY/s320/GHOST.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
Another musical coming in 2013.<br />
<br />
<b>Ghost: The Musical</b><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://ghostthemusical.com/australia/">http://ghostthemusical.com/australia/</a></div>
<br />
Following its current season in London's West End, and recent season on Broadway, 'Ghost' has been announced to come to Melbourne in August 2013. This stage production is, of course, based on the 1990 super-weepie film, starring the late Patrick Swayze, Demi Moore (when she still looked like Demi Moore) and the redoubtable Whoopi Goldberg. Apparently, like most big musicals of the last decade, it has dazzling special effects to spare. These will no doubt be used to good effect for the supernatural activities of the lead male character, 'Sam'.<br />
<br />
'Ghost' features songs and lyrics by well-respected English muso, Dave Stewart. For those of you who grew up in the 80s and 90's, you would be familiar with his extensive body of work in the 'Eurythmics' with the charismatic Annie Lennox. The other creative forces on this show include legendary songwriter and musical producer, Glen Ballard, and Bruce Joel Rubin, who has adapted the screenplay which won him an Oscar. (The other Oscar for the film went to Whoopi for 'Best Supporting Actress', for her memorable turn as a psychic.)<br />
<br />
I haven't given the London cast recording a thorough listening yet (my bad, people; I know, my bad) so I can't yet recommend any songs from this show. I've heard snippets from the score, though, and it is indeed promising. The <span style="line-height: 150%;">über</span>-ballad 'Unchained Melody' — the revived 'The Righteous Brothers' hit from the movie, featured to great effect during the notoriously romantic 'clay' scene — has been interpolated into the new score, so there's your hook song straight up.<br />
<br />
Sadly, 'Ghost' has recently posted October closing notices for its London production. The New York production, despite being nominated for three Tony awards earlier in the year, closed scant weeks ago. The West End version will have run for a respectable sixteen months, with the apparently re-tooled Broadway production barely managing a five-month run. That said, the show is touted for a North American national tour in the new year, so it looks like this show may yet have some longevity to it. No definite word, though, as to whether the forthcoming Australian production will be affected by the shuttering of the original and American remounts, although rumours of deferment persist.<br />
<br />
According to chatter on the boards, a number of non-English speaking productions of 'Ghost' are also planned worldwide. I would think that, amongst a number of other locales being bandied about, Germany would be ripe for the picking there. For those who aren't aware, many of the larger British and American musicals have enjoyed great success in translation there over the last decade.<br />
<br />
Stayed tuned for casting details for 'Ghost'. Hopefully, we'll have an even balance of some new theatrical blood and some industry stalwarts. And I'm suggesting that we should all bring some tissues to this production. Actually, you may want those tissues handy now. The show to succeed 'Ghost' in its current London theatre is a new musical helmed by the talented Jennifer Saunders of 'French and Saunders': a 'Spice Girls' musical called 'Viva Forever' ...<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.ghostthemusical.com/">http://www.ghostthemusical.com/</a></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghost_(1990_film)">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghost_(1990_film)</a></div>
<br />Aaronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07848465204648545676noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6183218564401295512.post-65676575129616970632012-09-10T11:45:00.000+10:002012-09-10T11:45:23.253+10:00I will follow him!<br />
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span lang="EN-US">A big shout out of
'thanks! to all of you who have recently started following my blog! And
'thanks!' to those who have been with me from the beginning when I started here
earlier this year! I really appreciate all of your support.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span lang="EN-US">For those of you
who are still considering follow my blog, here's a very short video that shows
you how.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN-US"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s60ZgFnCTNs">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s60ZgFnCTNs</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span lang="EN-US">You may need to
create a Google log-in to follow me — if you don't have one of the main email
addresses they suggest — but it's really easy and a quick process. You'll also
find the Google log-in helpful for myriad other sites and applications, given
how numerous Google's products are.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span lang="EN-US">I'm up to
twenty-three followers! Whoo and hoo! This might be a drop in the ocean for the
bigger blogs, but for me it's huge!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span lang="EN-US">This whole blogging
'thang' is a learning curve, but I'm really enjoying it. I hope you have a
chuckle here and there and find out one or two interesting things along the
way.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span lang="EN-US">Thanks!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN-US"><a href="http://www.clker.com/clipart-199173.html">http://www.clker.com/clipart-199173.html</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br />Aaronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07848465204648545676noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6183218564401295512.post-79037723301897153702012-09-09T21:31:00.001+10:002012-09-09T21:31:55.866+10:00Short stories<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-c5KMOv97fhc/UEmj5xa31GI/AAAAAAAAAf0/Gls-IL0Fdws/s1600/SHORT.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-c5KMOv97fhc/UEmj5xa31GI/AAAAAAAAAf0/Gls-IL0Fdws/s1600/SHORT.jpeg" /></a></div>
<br />
Okay, fair warning, people: I'm going to start uploading some of my short stories to this blog in coming weeks!<br />
<br />
I've written more than a dozen short stories this year. They range from around eight hundred words, though to some whoppers at several thousand words. There's even one that clocks in at over five thousand words. Whoa. My teacher cried a little when I submitted that one.<br />
<br />
The stories are spread across a range of genres, from humorous to sci-fi to vampire to gay to thriller: you name it. There's even <i>romance</i>. I'm hoping that there's something for everyone. I've had a ball trying out new themes and styles and ideas. I've really been flexing my creative muscles. It's been bringing me a lot of joy.<br />
<br />
I've even been editing some stories up and submitting them to anthologies and competitions. I had two stories accepted for our printed NMIT course anthology, <i>INfusion 46</i>. We're looking at putting that up on the web as an ebook. Stay tuned. And I've got two stories accepted for our next course anthology, <i>INfusion 47</i>. That's due out in coming months. Again, we're looking to put that up on the web as an ebook in addition to the printed version. I'll let you know when I have a link for it.<br />
<br />
I also had had a story accepted for the 'Time To Write' anthology to celebrate the one hundredth anniversary of the founding of NMIT. It was run the Bachelor of Writing and Publishing course at the NMIT Fairfield campus. I even got an 'Honourable Mention'. Don't worry: I won't start thinking I'm people. I've included the link to 'Time To Write', below, if you'd like to read my story.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.nmit.edu.au/courseblog/ybp/time-to-write/">http://www.nmit.edu.au/courseblog/ybp/time-to-write/</a></div>
<br />
I've got half a dozen other stories under submission for various online and printed anthologies, too. Fingers crossed that some of them get legs and get published!<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://incessantdroningofaboredwriter.wordpress.com/">http://incessantdroningofaboredwriter.wordpress.com/</a><br />
<br />
<br /></div>
Aaronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07848465204648545676noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6183218564401295512.post-23297729026313263062012-09-08T16:56:00.001+10:002012-09-08T16:56:14.298+10:00Horror<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yU6K27oqLCc/UEmkh-afWfI/AAAAAAAAAf8/nJTfsgGCZ3o/s1600/HORROR.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yU6K27oqLCc/UEmkh-afWfI/AAAAAAAAAf8/nJTfsgGCZ3o/s320/HORROR.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
It's great to kill people ... in fiction.<br />
<br />
For my Novel subject this year, I'm writing a young adult book. The subject? Why, zombies, of course! But this is an Australian take on zombie lore. And my story is set on the number 112 tram in Melbourne.<br />
<br />
Chapter one. Late one rainy Monday evening, Ash and his friend, Dunc, are coming home from school after staying back to study. The tram they're on is involved in a bingle with a car. Then out of the darkness comes — you guessed it — a zombie, who attacks a driver. They fend off the walking dead and the tram sets off. As they leave, the streetlights start going out.<br />
<br />
Chapter two. They are travelling on the tram, on their way to the terminus in Preston. A zombie attacks the passengers. Two of them die. They resume their journey, and all of the lights in the surrounding area go out.<br />
<br />
Chapter three, part one. The tram arrives at the ambulance station near the end of the line, but there's no-one there to help them. They continue on to the terminus, where Ash and Dunk disembark to go to Ash's house. The boys are menaced by a zombie but manage to make it to Ash's place.<br />
<br />
I had to break the third chapter as it this point as it was starting to get really long. That, and I ran out of time to complete the rest of it for class. Did I mention that it's also waaaay over the word limit? We need to complete around 8,000 words of the novel this year. I'm currently sitting at 15,000, and I still have to produce a piece for next term to workshop. Yikes. Oh well, better to have too much than too little, I say.<br />
<br />
<br />
So, that's where I'm up to with my novel project. The rest of the chapter — and indeed the whole novel — is completely plotted out and ready to be written. This was one of the assessments for the class, to help us understand where our story is going. It's been great to me to have that structure to work with. It also gave me a much better understanding of my characters. Now, all I need to do it continue writing!<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<br />
Producing a chapter each term is in itself a bit daunting. As I've mentioned, setting out to write a novel requires planning, plotting and a goodly amount of dedication to the work. This was all entirely new to me. We then take the chapter to class, where the group workshops it. It was a bit nerve-racking for me at first. I mean, I've had feedback on my business writing in my working life, but creative writing is a whole different kettle of fish.<br />
<br />
I think it could become really possessive of your work, even defensive. I'm lucky, though, that I have a great group of fellow students, who are encouraging and supportive. They praise what works and suggest changes to what doesn't. After workshopping, we take in the suggested changes, and we submit the piece for assessment each term.<br />
<br />
Our teacher, Louise Le Nay, is fantastic. She is helpful and patient and an endless source of knowledge on writing. It's no surprise that our Novel class is widely considered to be the favourite subject in our course. Louise is a novelist herself, having had <i>The Hero</i> published by Allen and Unwin in 1996. Unfortunately, it's currently out of print, but we've suggested to her to reissue it as an ebook. Stay tuned.<br />
<br />
Louise is also something of a legend in Australian television, having appeared in the original cast of Prisoner. She then went on to be a script writer and editor for numerous Australian TV shows. Her experience has been invaluable to us in the course. Many of us have a cinematic eye when it comes to writing, and Louise's in sharply honed.<br />
<br />
Next term will see me continuing writing the rest of chapter three of my novel. Who knows: maybe it will even get legs? Maybe I'll finish it, then edit the hell out it, and try for a publisher. Watch this space ...<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louise_Le_Nay">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louise_Le_Nay</a></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.bookworld.com.au/book/the-hero/1282170/">http://www.bookworld.com.au/book/the-hero/1282170/</a></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.squidoo.com/horror-story-ideas-story-writing-for-scaring-people">http://www.squidoo.com/horror-story-ideas-story-writing-for-scaring-people</a><br />
<br /></div>
Aaronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07848465204648545676noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6183218564401295512.post-60743844117707862392012-09-07T17:51:00.000+10:002012-09-07T17:51:47.090+10:00Exam<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VsY4nQUAqU0/UEmjFmcDWBI/AAAAAAAAAfk/eMBZ9ii6OfY/s1600/PRONOUN.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VsY4nQUAqU0/UEmjFmcDWBI/AAAAAAAAAfk/eMBZ9ii6OfY/s320/PRONOUN.jpg" width="268" /></a></div>
<br />
My first college exam next week.<br />
<br />
<i>Yikes.</i><br />
<br />
Up until now, all of our assessment has involved writing, research, classwork, workshopping, team projects, excursions, and oral presentations. This exam is for my Editing subject. Apparently, there will be lots of questions on grammar, punctuation, terminology and editing marks. I'm preparing for some serious cramming this week!<br />
<br />
And then there's all of the written assessment for term one to hand in over the next two weeks ...<br />
<br />
Oh well: sleep is for chumps. ; )<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://the-plain-language-programme.posterous.com/tag/humour">http://the-plain-language-programme.posterous.com/tag/humour</a></div>
Aaronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07848465204648545676noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6183218564401295512.post-45666251209202229182012-09-06T21:52:00.000+10:002012-09-06T21:52:06.333+10:00Win<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-rGjmGLIwtuw/UEgFTGSVOXI/AAAAAAAAAfI/8V7q_5kTXzM/s1600/ED.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-rGjmGLIwtuw/UEgFTGSVOXI/AAAAAAAAAfI/8V7q_5kTXzM/s320/ED.jpg" width="214" /></a></div>
<br />
It's always nice to see someone you know have a win. Particularly if they're both a local and a writer.<br />
<br />
The indefatigable Edwina Preston — biographer, editor, rock-star, reformed poetess, earth mother, muse, and now novelist — who also happens to be one of my wonderful teachers at college, has had her first novel published. We got to lay our hands tonight on copies of <i>The Inheritance of Ivorie Hammer</i> at the novel's launch at Wesleyanne in her home stomping ground of Northcote.<br />
<br />
We heard from Edwina's publisher at Queensland University Press, John Hunter, who talked about Edwina's ten-year-long odyssey to complete, shop-around and finally bring the book to market. The lady of the moment gave a speech and read a wonderfully evocative selection from the novel. The excellent people at Readings sold copies of the book during the evening, which was going gangbusters. And music by 'The Frightening Lights' entertained the crowd while the author signed copies of her book.<br />
<br />
You might already be aware of Edwina's writing from her biography of the late Australian artist, Howard Arkley. The book — <i>Not Just a Suburban Boy</i> — is a fascinating insight into Arkley's life, as the well as the Melbourne art scene of the 80s and 90s. Unfortunately, it's currently out of print, but Edwina's looking into having it re-published as an ebook. Stay tuned.<br />
<br />
I'll be devouring Edwina's novel in the near future and posting a review of it here. Naturally, I'll be pulling no punches. I mean, just because she's my teacher, and that she will be grading me on this blog at the end of the year, does not mean that I am unable to remain impartial. Freedom of the press and all of that, doncha know.<br />
<br />
Did I mention that she's a very attractive, youthful-looking woman; well-dressed, refined, and with a figure that just won't quit? ; )<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.uqp.uq.edu.au/Author.aspx/1681/Edwina%20Preston">http://www.uqp.uq.edu.au/Author.aspx/1681/Edwina%20Preston</a></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.uqp.uq.edu.au/Book.aspx/1211/The%20Inheritance%20of%20Ivorie%20Hammer">http://www.uqp.uq.edu.au/Book.aspx/1211/The%20Inheritance%20of%20Ivorie%20Hammer</a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br />
<a href="http://www.readings.com.au/product/9780702249211/">http://www.readings.com.au/product/9780702249211/</a><br />
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.panmacmillan.com.au/display_title.asp?ISBN=9781875989898&Author=Preston,%20Edwina">http://www.panmacmillan.com.au/display_title.asp?ISBN=9781875989898&Author=Preston,%20Edwina</a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
Aaronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07848465204648545676noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6183218564401295512.post-24351479493169569482012-09-05T21:25:00.000+10:002012-11-30T22:53:51.947+11:0050 Shades of Adobe<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-AQ0AZ8W7O20/UEcorZuvvSI/AAAAAAAAAes/_hAOnyyv7DQ/s1600/PHOTOSHOP.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="255" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-AQ0AZ8W7O20/UEcorZuvvSI/AAAAAAAAAes/_hAOnyyv7DQ/s320/PHOTOSHOP.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
Oh, Adobe Creative Suite 5.5, your daughters are harsh mistresses. I thought I liked guys, but your vixens have made me cross the rainbow.<br />
<br />
I meet Photoshop. I'm told she's a nice girl. I take her out to dinner. We look at pictures together. She's upfront and lets me play with her lasso tools. Her magic wand opens up a new world to me. We keep it low-key, but we do quite a little bit of red eye removal and cropping together. Although we don't really know each other that well, we seem to be having a good time. I start to get attached to her. I even do an evening course to make sure I can fulfill her needs.<br />
<br />
But then she says we should start seeing other people. I'm a bit cut by this, but I move on. By chance, I happen to score an introduction to her — I'm told — hotter, younger sister, InDesign. We have coffee. Straight away I see her much larger selection of tools. She tells me she's close to her sister, and I believe it. We start working on documents. I like her hot layers. I <i>really</i> like her effects. Again, I do an evening course to make sure I can give her the best treatment a guy can. We even double date with a friend of mine and InDesign's cute cousin, Illustrator. We're liberated like that.<br />
<br />
But then she says that she's not ready for commitment. I'm in the wilderness again. A couple of months later, I do another course to learn more about your family, Mistress Adobe. I like to be thorough. And you've got a <i>lot</i> of daughters. And those girls get around, if you know what I mean.<br />
<br />
I'm intrigued by this one named Dreamweaver. As fate would have it, I bump into Photoshop, InDesign and Illustrator one day. They're out with their aunt, Dreamweaver. Man, she's a cougar. She slips me her card. We catch up. We start to see a lot of each other. She's an enigma, wrapped up in a conundrum, inside a paradox. She shows me both sides of herself; her design on top, <i>and</i> her underlying code. Hot.<br />
<br />
I'm entranced now, in a dreamlike state. I need to get to know her properties box more intimately. Her CSS styles look hypnotic. Her assets ... man, does she have some. She wants me to design her some pretty pages. I'm thinking of doing another course to help me be a better partner to her. Because she can be tough as nails. She's so complex; deep. I'm the Neo to her Matrix. But I <i>will</i> get to know her better. Even if it kills me.<br />
<br />
Yes, Adobe, your gals are certainly pieces of work. You saucy minxes, you. <i>Rowr.</i><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adobe_Creative_Suite">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adobe_Creative_Suite</a></div>
<br />Aaronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07848465204648545676noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6183218564401295512.post-31426140995386580972012-09-04T23:35:00.001+10:002012-09-04T23:35:10.795+10:00Collaboration<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rAM17gKhSDY/UEX95xNQkNI/AAAAAAAAAeQ/1-DW2C2mUYE/s1600/COLLABORATE.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="264" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rAM17gKhSDY/UEX95xNQkNI/AAAAAAAAAeQ/1-DW2C2mUYE/s320/COLLABORATE.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
Two heads are better than one.<br />
<br />
We have a project for college, where we need to produce a piece of fiction for other students to edit. In turn, we will edit their work. The twist is that we are working in groups producing this work. The kink is that is has to be a sci-fi piece set in a dystopian future. Challenging.<br />
<br />
I had my group with two other (great) people. In session one, we brainstormed a slew of ideas, which I captured for us and sent on to them. In session two, the others weren't able to make it to class, so I took the liberty of fleshing out the material, which I sent on again.<br />
<br />
I'm trying not to take it personally that both of my group members left the course, gaining mid-year acceptances into university courses. ; )<br />
<br />
'So,' I thought, 'I'll write up a piece of text and submit that. With my now-apparent verbosity, it shouldn't be a challenge to get to the 5k word limit.' But I forgot that part of the point of this assessment is that it's a <i>group</i> project. Yikes. One of the reasons I wasn't tying a noose about having to write the piece on my own is because I work better on my own. Sure, I've collaborated on business writing with others. But never on creative writing. Somehow, I'd decided that this wasn't something that would work for me.<br />
<br />
Enter the my superb future writing partner. She was in another, larger group. She heard of my dilemma. Nobly — some would say, foolishly — she agreed to jump ship and join my 'Nigel-No-Friends' <i>pas de un</i>.<br />
<br />
We went through all of the notes. We talked it through. We emailed. I went away and produced a mammoth slab of text. After I revived her with smelling salts, she reviewed and edited the text and made wise cuts. She then went away and wrote more material. I said it looked great, and just today I get her full, FANTASTIC section to add to mine. Whoo and hoo!<br />
<br />
So, I've now edited — perhaps I've even over-edited, as I'm still new to this — her fabulous text. I've combined it with mine. You don't want to know what the word count is. It's somewhere north of 5k. Somewhere <i>far</i> north.<br />
<br />
The next step is to refine our combined text. Cuts will need to be made. Most of them will be in my section. Then we'll review it again. The litmus test will be sitting down over coffee and cake to read it aloud. I've found this year that this shows up all the little imperfections in a piece. We'll finally tweak it, and hey presto! we should have 'War and Peace' for another group of our fellow students to edit. So, despite my inherent control freakiness, it looks like I am indeed able to collaborate when it comes to creative writing. Better still, I've actually enjoyed the process. Amongst other things, it's taught me how to trust a fellow writer.<br />
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As for the word limit, I'm including a bottle of Valium when I submit the piece to my teacher.<br />
<br />Aaronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07848465204648545676noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6183218564401295512.post-71346517346254179342012-09-03T23:07:00.001+10:002012-09-03T23:07:38.920+10:00Write it out<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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How good is writing?<br />
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In the words of the latest Pink song, 'Blow Me (One Last Kiss)': 'I had a sh*t day.'<br />
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But I fixed that right up by sitting down to write a story for college. We had to write a symbolic piece. That is, one where you layer the symbolism into and onto the story. I'm always joking about Freudian imagery in film – sometimes a tunnel is just a tunnel, and sometimes a rocket in just a rocket – so I thought I would add some sexual imagery to my story.<br />
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Well, didn't I go to town.<br />
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It's not '50 Shades of Grey' (thank God) but I had a fun time writing it. And I managed to keep it under 1,500 words. Yes, yes, it was only supposed to be 500 words, but as I've said this year: I can't even clear my throat in under 500 words.<br />
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And I feel sooooo much better for sitting down and writing myself happy again. I heartily encourage it.<br />
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It reminds that my Mum and my Nana used to tell my Dad, when he was down or annoyed, to 'Go and play a tune on the goanna, Don'. Dad would apparently sit down to the piano and start pounding away on the keys, playing and singing songs. Not long after, he would get up, perspiration dripping from his brow, but feeling much better. There's a lot to be said for the catharsis you get from having a go at being creative.<br />
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/bijoubaby/galleries/72157628919310307">http://www.flickr.com/photos/bijoubaby/galleries/72157628919310307</a></div>
<br />Aaronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07848465204648545676noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6183218564401295512.post-40599947181145881622012-09-02T23:21:00.000+10:002012-09-02T23:21:12.817+10:00Reviews<br />
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I've had several comments from visitors to my blog in recent weeks about my 'generous' reviews of theatre that they — in some ways, often quite rightly — think was dreck.<br />
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I see quite a bit of theatre. In line with the last couple of years, thirty to forty shows annually. This year, while I'm a student and not working, that number will probably be around thirty. During much of the mid-2000s, though, that number was often fifty or more per year. That's quite a bit of theatre.<br />
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So, I have a lot of productions to compare. I have to say that, over the course of the year, there will probably only be a handful of top-shelf shows that I'll attend. The rest will often range from fun to okay through to 'oh dear'. Yet, more often than not, I find things to engage me and which I can praise, in even the most average of shows.<br />
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My reviews on this blog are generally for people who don't see a lot of theatre. So, I try to give a frame of reference for the show, a bit of history about it, and I talk about what I enjoyed in it and what worked. If I thought it wasn't great, I'll also talk about that, and what I think could have been done to improve the quality of the show.<br />
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For me, I don't think there's much point panning a show just because it didn't work for me. This is based on my experience attending a large number of shows with an extended group of friends who also see a lot of theatre. Often, our opinions are vastly different on a show. I will come out thinking 'meh'; they will come out thinking 'wow'. I will rave about a person's performance; they will think it was uninspired. It's a truly subjective thing<br />
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Much like reading books or seeing films, what appeals to one person will not appeal to others. I don't much like ballet or opera. I understand the discipline and I appreciate the aesthetic of the forms, but I won't voluntarily see these sorts of performances. Yet I have friends whose theatre year is often full of interpretive dance and Wagner.<br />
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Also, Melbourne — and indeed the web — is a small place. I really don't want or need to aggravate people by posting angsty reviews of shows. Indeed, too often I've see write-ups of shows that are quite bitchy, or where the reviewer has an ex to grind. More power to them, but that's not my 'thang'. People have strong opinions about their passions, and rightly so. You have only to look at an excellent site like TheatrePeople.com.au, where reader responses to critical reviews can often be scathing.<br />
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That's not to say that there isn't a great time to be had at truly bad shows. Honestly, I've seen some very pedestrian shows that have been good to laugh at afterwards. More often than not, though, there's been some wheat amongst the chaff. Some shows may have become legendary for being ordinary. At the end of the day, you need to be able to compare and contrast theatre to get a good sense of what's good and what's not.<br />
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It's like 'Spiderman: Turn Off The Dark'. This New York show is doing huge business. Yet virtually everyone I've talked to who's seen it says that it's dreadful. But it's packing them in, so a lot of theatre-going people out there are obviously enjoying it. Go figure. It's like 'Fifty Shade of Grey' or most Adam Sandler films; people are enjoying them and they're doing great business, but they're not my cup of tea.<br />
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All of this said, perhaps my reviews are too kind. I can wear that. That might change in time. But for the near future, I'm all about encouraging people to go to theatre. There's so much good theatre out there in Melbourne to see. Yes, you'll see some average stuff, but it's same with anything: you take the good with the bad. To paraphrase Mary Sunshine in <i>Chicago</i>: there's a little bit of good in everything.<br />
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But not in 'Spiderman: Turn Off The Dark'.<br />
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<a href="http://www.theatrepeople.com.au/">http://www.theatrepeople.com.au/</a></div>
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/goog_1374011625"><br /></a>
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<a href="http://www.comicsbeat.com/2011/03/10/ward-suttons-spidey-super-theater-stories/">http://www.comicsbeat.com/2011/03/10/ward-suttons-spidey-super-theater-stories/</a></div>
<br />Aaronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07848465204648545676noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6183218564401295512.post-28077960899284758842012-09-01T22:22:00.001+10:002012-09-01T22:24:17.867+10:00Musicals<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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You know, if I had a dollar for every time someone said to me, in response to my statement that I love musical theatre – 'Oh, I don't like musicals. They're really quite silly' – then I would have enough money to finally form a theatre company to perform, in repertory, my favourite shows 'Carrie' and 'Dance of the Vampires' ...<br />
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<i>Everyone</i> loves musicals: most people just don't know it. We've all been in, or been to, a musical more than once in our lives; you know you've tapped your toes and walked around the next day humming a tune from a show. We've all danced to 'The Time Warp', which is from the musical 'The Rocky Horror Show'. We all have classic songs that we love; many of them are from musicals. 'Send in the Clowns'? It's from Stephen Sondheim's musical, 'A Little Night Music'. We all love Hugh Jackman. How'd he get his start? In musicals. And everyone over the age of ten can sing a two consecutive lines from <i>any</i> song in <i>My Fair Lady</i>.<br />
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So, please don't go around saying you hate musicals. I mean, really. I put up with your conversations about football, babies and public transport: they're all loving and valid choices. Why aren't musicals?!<br />
<br />Aaronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07848465204648545676noreply@blogger.com1