Clubbing doesn't have to be a chore! Oh yeah, and we did some work.

HoKAY so in last week's tutor sesh, Sue gave us a brief for a little ten-minute-or-so presentation on a clip from a drama of our choice.
I was with Emma, and finally on Sunday (yes, we are THAT motivated) we got together in Cranborne for a wee chin-wag.
We chose a clip from Schkinssshhhh (that's Channel 4's 'Skins' to normal people), which was aired during the episode entitled 'Sid' in the second series.
You know the one. The one when Sid's Dad kicks it.
In fact, we chose the before-and-after scenes (that seems kind of sick) of that very event.
The problem with putting Emma and I together is this: we are both dynamite bullshitters.
Good for you, you say?
You're lucky you weren't in our latest tutor session.
Despite the tragic loss of my endless piece of prose worthy of Shakespeare himself that was originally meant to be notes for reference, we hopped up in front of our fellow Telly-ers and played our clip.
Then we talked.
Jesus, we talked.
About three-quarters of an hour later, D1 and 2 were very much aware of Sid's dad's oracle-like quality (courtesy of Propp's narrative theory), and the fact that the final chord of the non-diagetic piano music that fades in to underscore his contented diagetic humming at the end of the night scene is in fact not only a minor key, diverting from the tune's originally major format and giving a sense of foreboding, but is also an imperfect cadence, giving the tune an unfinished quality and therefore complimenting the slow zoom-out and the fade-to-black in giving the scene a sense of 'trailing off'.
Ahhhhhhhh.
So basically everyone got really bored and no one else got to do their presentation.
Lols.

Now. Next brief.
Non assessed: Three characters, three props, one location, character-driven script.
My idea - the favoured one so far: A waiting room in a clinic for people with phobias. The three characters are patients. The three objects are either items they are afraid of or instruments used to shield themselves from the subject of their phobia.
Should be amusing though perhaps a little non-pc. Got to love a bit of that.

Assessed: A scene in the style of a TV drama, basically.

On to the good stuff.
Sam's 19th totally owned mine.
We all dressed up as TV characters/personalities (my Phoebe costume crashed and burned, so I was suddenly a very accurate Paris Hilton. So accurate in fact that the woman in Tesco's thought I was a prostitute), and took Bournemouth by the balls.
Being a blonde is terrifying! Honestly, all I had to do was stick on a bleach-blonde Barbie wig and an industrial-strength push-up bra and I was leered over like a goldfish in a bowl plonked next to a cat.
Then, at the end of the night, I removed my wig and admitted to being a Northener, and suddenly nobody wanted to know!

We had some cracking costumes though. 2 Fonzies, about 87 Mistys, an Ash, a Pikachu, JD and Elliot, Frank Gallagher, Smurfette, Sweep, the Special K lady, The Moon, Jeremy Clarkson, two Simon Amstells (though only one with real hair), Russel Brand, Robin (of Batman and), Borat (who failed, I repeat, FAILED to stay in his mankini...chicken...), the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Jack of 'Lost', and many many more.

This was the first night I'd had pure, unadulterated fun. Even my unforgivable dancing to Britney, S Club 7 and Bon Jovi go unregretted. And I'm not even tipsy!

Ha ha, Tesco lady. Ha ha.

x

General oo!

Heheheh yes I just re-read that last post.

Had an ace lecture today with a new lecturer and got my new timetable which I may or may not colour code later.

I now have the Montagues and Capulets theme from the Romeo and Juliet ballet in my head. That's how purposefully random that lecture was.

Woo! We're working on narrative - my bestest area! Character creation and development (I am now the proud creator of a hen named Laetitia who was once human but had a tiff with her genetic engineer husband), story and plot, blah-dy blah.

I taught Lizzie Sykes something.
She was like 'how do people generate ideas?' and I was like 'ahem-ahem. well, some authors prefer to write either very early in the morning or very late at night, because that is when they are the most in touch with their subconscious. thank you, I'll be here until christmas,' and she was like 'whoa, whoa, hold the phone there, what was that?' and I was like 'yeah, you heard me'.

Well, that's how it went in my mind.

And then Jonathan told me he'd just imagined me with udders and it kind of replaced my ego-boost moment with one of those moments when you just think 'whaaat?'.

Yeah, someone else is leaving my floor now! That's two! Is it the smell of marijuana? 'Cos I'm pretty much immune to that now.
Don't get me wrong, that shit ain't ever getting into MY body.

Hmm, what else? Oh yeah, I think we're getting our new briefs tomorrow.
Yeah, that's right, BRIEFS. I'm a grown up, I can say it without laughing. I can also say the words 'shaft', 'crevasse', 'cock' and 'gash'.
They are all perfectly clean words. They are in the dictionary. Their definitions are 100% clean.

Da ting is, showcasing our work won't actually be as exciting as we expect, 'cos we've seen most of 'em online before the event. Like me and all the previous Harry Potter movies.

Hmm. Nothing else to say really.

Oh yeah!!! Man this caused me to make serious lol.
On the third floor of Weymouth House, there is an office, with a sign outside in the same format as any of the other offices. However, if you look very closely, you'll see that the name on it is 'Billy Nomates', and the contact e-mail is 'lonr@bournemouth.ac.uk')

Genius.

Anyway, with that happy thought, I will leave you so I can go and get more food and hopefully talk to my mum about how to resolve the cock-uppage of the end of term, because somehow I'm going to find myself in London.

Much Love

xxx

Oh yeah, and the IT Crowd's back on! Yay!

Hello peoples,
Nothing particularly exciting has happened in the last few days.
However, I feel it necessary to continue blogging despite, for the benefit of those riveted by the series of events that is my extremely interesting life (bahahaha).
Basically, hey guys!
I discovered how to make a really nice tomato soup to serve one in like seven minutes.

You will need:
1/2 tin of chopped tomatoes
Vegetable stock
Chilli powder
Basil (haha you thought I meant real basil. No! Like what you get in the little glass jars in ASDA!)
Ground pepper
Vegetable oil

Okies, so you dump the tinned tomatoes in a saucepan, with about half as much water as what's already in there. Stick it on the hob. Crumble in vegetable stock. Randomly chuck in chilli powder, basil and pepper to taste. Then a *drop* of vegetable oil. Seriously, not to much. Same with the chilli. I don't care if you like it spicy. Too much = GROSS.

Bring to the boil.

Eat it.

I discovered this over reading week.
Whaddayaknow? I did do something resourceful! Didn't even google it, man! I invented it!

Yes, I am drunk again. I'm more fun when I'm drunk.
Except when watching movies. I just talked very loudly through 'Knocked Up', mainly about how Seth Rogen is such a great actor and he's actually quite cute, and he's not really 'fat', he's just kind of 'chubby'. True, though, and I'd say that sober.

Yes. I don't know what all that was in aid of.

But kids - don't turn into me. I got a text message from BU PARTS telling me to be at rehearsal at noon tomorrow and I literally thought 'are you joshing??? 12? Who's up at 12?' then I realised that the majority of the nation is up at 12 and I was utterly ashamed.
Hopefully I won't be too hung over.

OO! We have a new flatmate!
Catherine on my floor, who is lovely, is dropping out of Uni! WTF??? She came into the lounge today to say bye, and I thought she was just going home for the weekend, but it turns out there's someone else turned up to take her place.
Don't get me wrong, new girl is lovely (another very attractive girl to make me feel unhappy within myself - LOL), but I had no fucking clue Catherine was leaving.
Caz = BIATCH!!!

Basically, I think this whole post is here to tell me to s.t.o.p d.r.i.n.k.i.n.g.
IT IS BAD
IT COSTS MONEY
IT MAKES YOU TALK THROUGH GOOD MOVIES
IT MAKES YOU POORLY
YOU HURT YOUR LIVER AND YOU TURN YELLOW AND DIIIIIIIIEEEEE

basically

Oh yeah, and I miss my friends so much it physically hurts.
That's not relevant to the whole drinking thing, but it's true.
Can't wait 'til xmas!
And now I'm off to make a drunken twat of myself in front of someone who's recently tried to make ends meet with me.
Takes balls to do that. Give him a big hand, guys.
For the record, I'm the dick for ballsing this up.

Luvs!


xxx

http://www.nwemail.co.uk/poll?pollIdpoll_7_7063=0&pollId=poll_7_7063&pollIdpoll_7_7063QuestionId0=1&forward=/news/barrow/battle_of_the_bands_vote/7.7063&cookieSet=true

Yes, I know you don't know these people but whosoever is following this blog, pleeeeeease click the above link and vote for 'Zoltan' in the poll on the sidebar.
They are a really good band and deserved to be signed, instead of the Barrow-in-Furness gimps.
Not that there's anything wrong with being from Barrow-in-Furness.
Yes, I am drunk, but please vote.

xx

General relief. O.My.God that's better. And fish fillets. Nom nom nom.

Right, well I have had a pretty good week so far.

Apart from one of the days...not sure exactly which one...when I made myself very ill and embarrassed myself in front of my flatmates by drinking a whole bottle of wine and a whole bottle of SoCo to myself. I did everything from getting their names mixed up to actually forgetting how to talk, really.
And the next day I basically just stayed in bed and ate nothing.
Actually, I lie.
Stayed in bed 'til about six in the evening, then remembered I had a Guys and Dolls rehearsal.
We were learning the rather energetic Hotbox dance to 'Bushel and a Peck' in heels. I literally nearly died.
And THEN I had a date.
Which was lovely.
But I wrecked that too by mentioning that I had an essay due the next day, so of course the guy was like 'Oh my God, I dragged you out here when you had work to do! I'm such a bad person! I'm taking you home.'
Which I think is code for 'Thank God.'
So yeah, that was cut short, and I spent the rest of the evening referencing and Bibliographising.
I'm pretty sure my essay is pretty crap, but I think it'll do the job for now.
If it gets a terrible mark, I'll re-sit.

But on to the good news!

#1 None of my flatmates hate me, they just think I'm funny (dunno what's worse)

#2 Made up with a close friend from home that I haven't spoken to in a few months. Well, I think we made up. I was a wee bit too enthusiastic and happened to let slip that I'd had a couple of dreams with him in over the past two days, and that this was an amazing coincidence. I did say 'with you in' not 'about you', because that would just be creepy. Because they weren't 'about him' they just had him in. Still creepy though. Hands up who thinks I've blown it. Lol.

#3 Saw the final edited version of Untitled Movie Still #11, which was our first assessed piece.
Watch it aqui http://www.vimeo.com/2274633 or at the lewisaurus's blog on tumblr. I think it rocks. Especially the lighting. I love peoples' reactions what they see the end.

#4 Bye bye essay! Thank the Lord. That was the thing that was hanging over my head like crazy. HATED IT.

#5 Just had an absolutely beasting singing lesson with Sandie Elkins. 'Maybe This Time' from Cabaret, 'Defying Gravity' from Wicked and 'Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again' from The Phantom of the Opera. No wonder I'm a bit wobbly on me tootsies now - it sucked the life out of me. In the best way possible.

#6 Attending choir tonight when hopefully we're going to be starting on 'One Day More' from Les Misérables. Absolute horse of a song. That's a good thing. I think Clarkson was driving a Lambo a few Top Gear series ago (probably a Lambo - usually is), and bellowed 'I'm a horse of a man!' Best Top Gear quote ever. But yeah, I've adopted it, and it now means I approve of whatever it is I apply it to.

#7 Just generally love the fact that I'm standing on the edge of a precipice with absolutely no clue what the next brief is going to be. I probably spelt precipice wrong.

#8 Watched back a few of the ruvry assessed pieces. Faves: ours (obviously), digging the special effects in B2's piece...just lol, and the general set-ups of the shots in F2's were fit.

#9 Just noticed B1's is up. I'm in it! Get in! Must go home to watch it in a bit.

#10 Had a very nice date and I'm sure there will be more to come.

#11 Can't wait to get a bit more acting in. Really hope the sitcom idea gets off the ground. That would be ultra-yum.

#12 I have some yummy fish fillets waiting for me at home. Mmm. I don't even care if my flatmates think they smell. I love smelly food.

#13 It's nearly Christmas!!!!! If you wake up unsure of whether it IS in fact Christmas or not, I've discovered a rather useful little web page to set your mind at ease: http://www.isitchristmas.com/

#14 Appetite is GONE! That's the best thing about multiple-day hangovers.

Hinneeway.

Hi Reece! You're following my blog! O yeah! And I'm following yours! LOLAGE.

Muchos hugs

xxx

Editing an dat

The assessed piece is looking pretty good!
Apparently, we had un pequeño problemo with the tape - basically, as James lovingly put it, it was completely fucked. We lost a whole bunch of footage, so on top of bad luck, little planning and a stressful day on location, we now had only a small amount of what we'd shot.
Luckily, the shots that were remained were workable.
Couple them with some great and very fitting music, and we had us a nice little film.
Being in the same editing suite as all the other groups is always humbling though, since you can't help glancing over shoulders and getting depressed at the absolute excellence of other peoples' work.
I think our piece has the shock factor, as it features the strong suggestion of rape.
So it could swing either way - we may get praised for being brave and pulling the thing off, OR we may be asked 'was that completely necessary'?
Also, I found out that we may not have been allowed lights, since we hadn't had the lighting workshop. But then I would be redundant, wouldn't I? And I would have missed out on burning myself.
Nah, just joshing, I absolutely LOVED doing lighting.
Essay's finished too, but it's about 500 words too long, and that's minus references and bibliography (shucks!).
Have to get it done tomorrow and handed in by Wednesday.
I think it's pretty crap, but hopefully it'll get me through. It's too late to re-do it all now.

L8rs
x

LANDAN!

Alright, chaps! I'm back from London.
Yeah, I went there. Forgot to say.
Went to see a play by Rikki Beadle-Blair, my course director from National Youth Theatre, who is a legend. He wrote, designed, directed AND acted in it along with other members of his theatre group, Team Angelica.
When I first found out it was 'Theatre in Education' (TIE), I did have a cringe moment.
I have sat through many an assembly when a bunch of preachy actors have tried to be down wid da bredren and appeal to us not to smoke...binge drink...have unprotected sex...become mass murderers...become pimps...become druggies or drug dealers...gamble...dabble in the illegal toxic waste trade...download illegal software...
But this was excellent. Seven actors, including Rikki as the teacher, playing a street-dance troupe in a college, tackling the issue of homophobia.
It seemed edgy and dangerous even with the required lack of swears, the acting was fantastic (as I have come to expect of Team Angelica) and the script was typical cynical Rikki, but in a way completely reinvented.
Comedy and angst were like peanut butter and chocolate in there. They actually worked together.
One of the best bits, though, was the hot-seating. There was some really good maintainance of character, especially from the lads who played overly-macho, unrestrainedly cruel and homophobic Isaac and his closeted gay best friend Ryan who made up for his hidden true sexuality by joining Isaac with a little too much gusto.
I would love to make a documentary on Team Angelica for one of my majors. There's so much material to delve into. I could use clips from Rikki's award-winning film 'Souljah', footage of rehearsals, interviews with Rikki, the cast, Rikki's Mum, Rikki's brother, audience members, other members of NYT that he taught...
God, it's all too exciting. Bet you anything that Rikki's way too busy to do any of that though.
Upto about 1770 words in my essay now, and just realising I don't have enough quotes.
Library trip tomorrow, methinks.
Oh, and apparently, the new film's all edited and looks amazing. Gutted I wasn't there, but hopefully I'll get to see it on Monday.

Laters!
x