Wednesday, August 30, 2006

feeling fuzzy

so saturday was just as busy as friday - we were determined to make the most of our weekend!

up at 12ish and off to get tickets for Simon Munnery's AGM.
on the way my bloke saw a picture of his mate Rob Deb's cheeky grin beaming out from a poster in a pub* window. we made a note to come back for his free lunchtime performance and headed onwards to the stand box office.
while there we got tickets for the late stand up show featuring Phil Nichol who we had seen the day before in Talk Radio. his own show the naked racist was sold out for the weekend so we were really pleased we'd be seeing him.

more guinness at Rob Deb's show.

Simon Munnery was wicked. he gave us the most memorable experience of all weekend. once the hour and a half show was over he took his audience up the road to have an outdoors AGM about thoughts members of the audience had put on pieces of paper and into a big bucket during the show. insane.
and so lovely a way to spend an hour! haha

we took a comedy break and went to see Paolo Nutini live at the Liquid Rooms. he did a cover of Gnarls Barkley's Crazy which was wicked!

i'd had enough guinness by now and had a seriously giddy tummy. so i think i switched to diet coke around now...

then onto the stand for our late night stand up. we arrived late at the venue after drinking with our pal Rob and had to sit at the front** but this only added to the evening's frivolity as the compere chatted to Nick about his job etc. we were loving it! haha
another great night, topped by finding out Phil Nichol had just won the fringe comedy award 'the eddies' and was very very drunk but on his way...
we got to meet him after the show and he was really nice and just so happy! bless him! haha
after a couple more drinks at the stand we went up to the pleasance for the free fringe party and got back to the hotel about 5am. blimey!
this was worrying only because had to check out the hotel Sunday morning...

all packed up we staggered to a lunchtime free show at the stand. two guys, Gary and someone, did improv'd sketches. they were really good fun. 'dogging commentary' stands out...
we'd managed to have a weekend of brilliant comedy at edinburgh without any timewasters! beginner's luck or sheer determination?! haha
we even ambled up to the local indie comic shop for my man to browse and me to chat to bored proprietor haha, very friendly too!

late afternoon we planned to go see the play the chick we met Friday night was in, but on arrival at the box office Robin Ince's Book Club caught Nick's eye and we went for that instead.
we saw a whole host of singing and dancing acts for this show, including Martin White singing Kate Bush with his accordian and a hungover best newcomer winner Josie Long, so it was a great way to end our festival experience.
we even toyed with sleeping rough to stay another night but i was knackered! physically and mentally exhausted!
so we just got some chips on the royal mile and got our train back to sheffield...

back to reality was a harsh lesson.
why couldn't all days be like a day at the edinburgh comedy festival?! haha
we are so going back for a week next year!

we experienced a proper comedy come down sunday and by monday we were plotting more comedy but in Manchester***, haha

i'm still feeling fuzzy from the comedy packed weekend but it was one of the best weekends EVER!

so it was all worth it!



*jekyl & hyde pub, hanover street. secret toilet doors that look like bookcases! brilliant!

** we really enjoy sitting at the front. people think this is insane but we like being a part of the laughter! haha

*** frog and bucket, beat the frog open mic night. it wasn't brilliant but it got us out the house...

Tuesday, August 29, 2006

comedy come down

just been to edinburgh with my man for the comedy festival.

never been before, wanted to go for years though, being a big fan of stand up comedy.

so very 'green' we arrived fresh faced on Friday afternoon and set about getting tickets for Talk Radio, a play about a famous amercian talk radio host directed by Stewart Lee and starring Phil Nichol both of whom we'd seen last summer in Glastonbury's comedy tent*.
this was very good. and very thought provoking at least for my man - a one time recent talk radio host himself!

the first guinness was supped during this show.

then we had some dinner at a nearby pub called The Doctor. we ordered jacket potatoes and we're pleasantly surprised when served up two spuds each! we could get used to these Scottish servings we thought! while i was at the bar ordering our dinner some Scottish ladies asked my man if they could share our table, which he kindly obliged as it was a busy pub, only to find 7 women descend on us! mental! haha they were very jolly and had just been to see the Ladyboys of Bangkok! one of them took a great liking to my man to which he responded by putting me inbetween them when i came back from a loo break! haha

guinness number two was here.

time flew by in The Doctor and we had to hurry off to see Richard Herring perform 'Menage a Un'. this was good but i did feel sorry for him as some bright spark thought it sensible to bring their kids including a 12 year old boy and sit on the front row! his show was still littered with filth and expletives but it must have been a nightmare for him!

afterwards we went to the underbelly box office to see what we could see next - there were a few contenders but we went with The Free Beer Show! you got a free beer (or red wine on my part) and some laughs! haha

we went for another drink before that started at the Gilded Balloon Library Bar. very lovely bar with big leather sofas and bookshelves! we got chatting to some chick called Sarah who was in a play and waiting for some friends. she told us she lived in LA and when she asked me what i did i had an awful moment of clarity. what did i do? i'm a writer. (okay so far) what did i write? oh dear. radio ads. what a contribution to writing! not! hey and my blog! haha - you guys get all the good stuff right here!

The Free Beer Show was very good fun and at one point a heckler walked up to the stage unhindered by security to shake hands with the terrified comedian to say 'you're not bad but i'm going now thanks' haha - this event actually made the whole show funnier! the guy on stage, Sean Collins, was livid that sceurity hadn't seen the need to intervene! haha

we stumbled back to our hotel at about 3am felling very rock n roll for being out so late...

i'll tell you about Saturday and Sunday tomorrow. i'm exhausted just writing about Friday! haha

i'm such a tease! haha


*we spent a lot of time at glastobury festival in the comedy tent as i didn't have any wellies. but as it turned out it was fortuitous spending all our time watching comedy as it inspired our Edinburgh trip this year!

Thursday, August 24, 2006

festival fever

going to Edinburgh tomorrow and very excited about it too!

i have a brolly cos i expect it will rain it being Scotland n all... and i have aquired a cheeky rough guide... i've got hangover medicine and i've packed plenty of pants! haha

actually the only thing i don't have yet is my train ticket and there's a very good reason for why not! the going rate for a ticket from sheffield to edinburgh, fancy a guess? its almost 4 hours away... £78! yes count them SEVENTY EIGHT ENGLISH POUNDS! its daylight robbery!

i think i better write a letter to my local MP about how rubbish that is and how i am not incentivised at all against using my car for this journey!
except my bro is borrowing my car this weekend, but that's not the point!
how can it cost more on the train than any other way to travel when its clearly the cheapest way to travel! grrr! why i oughta! (shakes fist in air)
the government should be ashamed of itself!
our great British railway is fooked! haha, which is rather a shame cos i love getting trains...

so i will be back for more blogging action after the bank holiday - poorer of pocket but hopefully richer in spirit - ah! nice that!

Wednesday, August 23, 2006

day 31 - the housemates are still working each other out

been at my new gaff a month now. still figuring it all out really.
what i will say is this:
i have less cupboard space than everyone else.
the lass i share a fridge with has serious issues with my having a fridge door friendly water filter jug.
there are some parking wrangles not of my making.
i need a plant for my room and possibly a book shelf.

so nothing serious then.
just general house share gripes! haha

oh to afford my own place! if me and my man lived in the same town and worked more similar hours we could def get a place.

what is the world coming to when a graduate who works full time can't afford their own place to live - to rent never mind own!
i have no grand scheme to be a property magnate but my own little place to call home would be nice.
with ample cupboard/fridge space and easy parking of course...

a charity chaser tried to chat with me yesterday while i was out n about on my lunchhour, i said hello - i'm polite me! but i said listen i have no money! i am my own charity case! she said sympathetically, oh are you a student? no! she looked suitably dismayed and allowed me to continue on with no further questioning.

even my brother, who until recently was unemployed, has his own place!?
who can i write a letter to about this?! i want my own place!

it's far too early to be this cross about the world, but my fridge sharer displaced a jar of olives from the fridge door last night for a half empty bottle of vino, which meant the entire jar drained overnight resulting in vinegar being all over the fridge and floor when i went into the kitchen this morning. bleary eyed i mopped up inside the fridge.
i left her a note.
i'm quite peeved by this lack of care re: my olives. and i know they're only olives but now the kitchen floor needs mopping and i'm damnd if i'm doing it!
she could have moved a carton of apple juice instead and none of this nonsense would have happened.
but it's her apple juice.
it's about the water filter jug. i know it is...

Monday, August 21, 2006

monday mornings

ugh.

i didn't drink a lot. i slept late saturday and sunday. why am i so 'hungover'?

nasty business these monday mornings.

can we ever get rid of them? i hear about people who work 'flexible' hours all the time, why don't i ever get a sniff of the good life?! haha

went to the cinema this weekend to see A Scanner Darkly. i was very excited. and unusually this didn't lead to disappointment! there were slow bits to be fair, and i was surprised that the director didn't use the style to its most surrealist limits like he did in Waking Life, but that's what happens when you try and take something a bit more mainstream with Keanu Reeves et al! haha

also saw Nacho Libre. wouldn't normally have bothered with this one but the bloke wanted to kill the time and the sadness between 4pm and 6pm. what a silly film.
i remember thinking that if i was under 12 i probably would have really enjoyed it though. so that's nice for them.
damn those cinema prices tho. £13 for two adults?! jeez! then another £10 for snacks. they take the micheal for sure!

this is why i am a member of Lovefilm.com. its just £10 for as many dvds as you can manage in a month and you can make your own snacks! haha
this weekend i enjoyed the original series of Wonder Woman disc 1 which featured the pilot epic episode and episode 1 of following series. bizarrely set in nazi themed world war II, the pilot explained the origins of Wonder Woman. lynda carter was fabulous and the commentary from her and the director dude was class! she is concerned about the re-casting for the movie version coming to a cinema near you in the not to distant future. and so she should be! look at the Batman movies! haha

also i enjoyed Dallas on dvd last night, including commentary on episdoe 1 from larry hagman no less! class eighties tv i tells thee!

(heavy sigh)... is it lunchtime yet?

Friday, August 18, 2006

real chippy chips

you can't beat real chippy chips, no sir-y bob!

i just been to a fish and chip shop (now thems the perks!) to ask if they want to go on the radio, it's called The Fryary (what a great name!) and the boss george is so lovely i want him to be Uncle George! haha

and he gave us free chips and mushy meas! lovely stuff

you just can't beat the taste of real chips - there's something very English about eating a nice bag of chips innit? who invented chips? who thought 'yeah, stick them in the hot oil and they'll taste good' haha i'll have to wikipedia that later!

and forget those french fries that seem to have taken precedence over the last 20 years, its about time every restaurant in the land got back to proper fat chips - they only sell those skinny ones cos they're cheaper and less effort! outrageous! i bet theyve never even had proper chips in america! pah...

forget camra lets have a campiagn for saving real chips! haha

i am aware that you may feel hungry after reading this entry, just picturing those hot yummy chips with some nice mushy peas on the side, i highly recommend The Fryary in Edgeley! haha
but i'm sure you have a favourite chippy and if you've not been in a while - why not pay them a visit today!

Mmmm... chippy dinner....

Wednesday, August 16, 2006

ever had one of those weeks...

today i am suffering poor sockmanship!
you know, when your socks fall down your foot while still in your shoe and you have to stop every 2 minutes to pull them back up.
argh!
how annoying it that?!

and yesterday i realised i had given myself a strange lump in the shoulder by overdoing it at the gym - i look deformed! so i think aerobics is off tonight! which is a nightmare cos every week i've wanted to try the boxing class i've been foiled in some way! ruined!

on monday i took a chunk out of my right index finger on a loose screw on the bathroom door which i keep knocking on everything, and then later on i scraped my arm against my bedroom door handle.. do you see what i've had to put up with?!

yesterday i went to get a bikini wax* only for my waxer lady to inform me that have a huge bruise on my ass cheek! what the?!
nice that.
i was very drunk this weekend so i can only assume its a UDI (unidentified drunken injury), but what a way to find out! the shame..

so today with my rubbishy fall down socks i've had it!

hope your week is going better than mine!

*ouch!

Tuesday, August 15, 2006

hiphopera - it really exists!

so over the weekend i went to Bridlington* and on the way over in the motor me and my man listened to Adam & Joe's XFM Podcast**.

on this particular edition they explained to us that the king of RnB, one R Kelly, had invented a new genre of music, the HipHopera. A soap opera sang by R himself. They played a few clips and it sounded ridiculous.
Me and my man then had a discussion about whether it was a parody or whether it was in fact real and R had invented a new genre of music.

Later, when much wine had flowed at our friends house, we turned to YouTube.com to look at various nonsense.

it occured to me that if HipHopera existed then we should see it! and where better to look for it than the world wide web.


THERE ARE 12 EPIOSODES!?!!

i cannot fully explain the mirth that R caused on Saturday night. and i am sure he was taking it way too seriously to even appreciate the laughter he gave us!
please watch Trapped In The Closet*** here http://youtube.com/watch?v=ms3WabNFWnc
and find the next 11 epsiodes thereafter!
i promise it's worth 40 minutes of your life! haha

i understand that it isn't new.
and if you are already aware of the HipHopera then may i say this:
'why didn't you tell me?! that's just selfish!'
and this:
'watch it again my friend, it's good repeat viewing value!' haha


*to see our friends James and Clare. nice place, shame about the rain, but that did add to the experience, the penny arcade was AMAZING! and i had a knickerbocker glory in the 60s cafe!

**if you haven't already enjoyed them, it is essential that you listen to these chaps, soon. they are so funny on the radiddlio they make me cry tears of laughter!

***this goes a long way to explain the South Park episode where Tom Cruise is trapped in the closet, which is also a YouTube must-see!

Wednesday, August 09, 2006

new stuff

i just got a copy of the latest Nouvelle Vague cd Band A Part - which features for your aural pleasure kitsch covers of, amongst others, The Buzzcocks' Ever Fallen In Love and Blondie's Heart of Glass!
wicked!

i also bought Jose Gonzalez melancholic cover of Kylie's Hand On Your Heart which suddenly becomes a much deeper message about a break up! haha
i hope Pete Waterman's heard it!

last night i went to see new Luc Beeson movie Angel-A which was a bit surreal to say the least! it's filmed tres beautifully in black and white on location in Paris, but it's like Luc couldn't find a story as good as the scenery so he just went with some pappy love story that's It's a Wonderful Life meets Wings of Desire! but to spice it up a bit the angel-a is dressed as a slut (something for the dads) and the chap is of Algerian descent (something for the politics).
y'know it's ok - i don't want to slag it off - but it's not a patch on his previous work!
i loved Nikita, The Big Blue (Version Longe),
Leon (he brought us Jean Reno!), The Fifth Element
and he even steals a line from Leon for his new movie - has he run out of ideas?!
or did he just really love the line? ("Stop saying OK all the time" "OK")
i was a bit disappointed really... it seemed like a half hearted effort to me...

however i AM looking forward to seeing A Scanner Darkly later this month - the new Richard Linklater movie with his weird painted-acting-anime combo! they showed a trailer for it and i got really excited! it's such a great new format! the best of acting and animation brought together (see Waking Life for previous Linklater step into this field)...

so yeah, loadsa new stuff! excellent!

Monday, August 07, 2006

i had a dream

and in that dream i was moving to Cornwall.
with my mum and my brother.

it was a really vivid dream. and i was really excited, but was worried about getting a job there. haha, i was even looking at it on a map and looking what big cities were near by (cos i'm a city girl). mental!

i think i maybe dreamed this because just before i went to bed i was reading about all the celebs who have pads in Cornwall in the Independent on Sunday*.
and i've always wanted to go.
and my mate Clare is from there and we had been talking earlier about how i'd like to go for the weekend maybe end of next month.

so i'm kinda disappointed today that i'm not moving to Cornwall!
isn't it weird when you have such a vivid dream you have feelings about the experiences in it! haha

hmmm, wonder if there's a radio station in Cornwall...


*re: previous entry about how the Independent made me cry. I'm not allowed to read the Independent news bit but i'm allowed to read the fluffy stuff.

Saturday, August 05, 2006

something for everyone!

if my blog had a strapline, which it doesn't, nor will it ever, but if it did, it would definitely not be 'something for everyone'.

even if this was true, which it isn't , i still wouldn't use it. because it is so lazy man!

i will keep this short because i am loathe to talk about advertising on my day off but for example:
every little helps
making life taste better
i'm sure you are familiar with these straplines whether you like it or not!
but last night The Co-Op, who appear to have seen sense and dropped the singing sheep, introduced new characters in a cartoon form who tell us that Co-Op has 'something for everyone'.

it's not a flippn theme park! people are NEVER going to be excited about going to the supermarket!*

of course in literal terms the shop does have 'something' for 'everyone' from sweets to courgettes, but its such a lazy strapline. they're not telling me i'll find value for money. they're telling me they offer tasty fresh food. they're telling me 'well, we've got something for everyone, and YOU'RE everyone, so why not come along loser?! haha

The Co-Op was one of the first ethical companies, a co-operative see... why aren't they flogging us moral fibre with our bread? They were among the first to stock Fair Trade goods - they could so clean up with the lefties if they said 'shop with us - you'll feel better afterwards'! haha

that's it - i'm not going on any longer - i am a geek i know i am - its tragic but i criticaly watch the ad break

'what numpty pitched this idea?' i cry in disbelief at the telly/radio, thinking bitterly 'i bet they get paid more than me too, pah!' haha

my poor boyfriend.

but then he says geeky things like ' did you hear how bad that last link was?' about random people on the radio and i have no clue!

two geeks together. ah bless!

it's the way it should be!

hey that sounds like a strapline! haha



*unless you're me and get excited about finding your nearest Sainsbury's (see prevoius entry) - but as we've established, i am a geek.

Tuesday, August 01, 2006

i've got a gym hangover

ugh. i'm aching today.
i went to the gym and did my assigned 'workout' for the first time.
not good! i think i'm gonna stick to classes - they're more fun!
i even took a sauna session before i went home but still aching today.

and my personal trainer called in sick!
isn't it supposed to be the other way around?! haha
i am doomed to be ever so slightly lardy forever! the lady at the desk was a bit rude too.
ruined. i thought the idea was that if i paid a lot of money to go to a gym they'd be nicer to me! haha

i'm going to boxing aerobics on Wednesday which i'm really looking forward to.
really must go to the supermarket tho. got home from gym last night only to find a corn on the cob and some peas for tea! haha i'll be thin yet!*
so i bust open a jar of baby beets only to spill the bright red vinegar everywhere! it was like i'd murdred someone! haha

*i don't actually want to be 'thin' i just want to be slimmer... i'm a woman! ofcourse i'm horribly selfconscious!