For those who were fans of the discs (which have finally left my blog after 4 years and a lot of people protesting to save them, ha!) – you’ll be pleased to hear that on Christmas Day 2011, I went out and took an updated picture of them.
Apologies for Max’s grainy camera work, and my terrible appearance (it was 7am, ha!) I have genuinely never seen my camera take such a bad image, ha!
Here’s the (much much better!) original… :P
… CD collection! 
Prior to the move, I have decided that I need to get rid of most of my CDs in order to free up dead space, and am currently engaged on a mammoth project to try to rip them all to my iMac’s hard drive (I am doing it at the highest possible quality to rip an .mp3 to – we’re talking 50MB a file – so I am also trying to future-proof this massive collection). Thus far, it has taken about 10 hours, and I am around a third of the way through.
Whilst I am keeping anything that relates to musical theatre, or anything with sentimental value, there is an awful lot that I am getting rid of, as I am something of a music buff (music is genuinely one of the most important things in the world to me, and I strongly believe that the concept of ‘music’ is Man’s best creation!). I will probably, and with a heavy heart, chuck my CDs out at the end of next week (around Jan 7), however, if anyone that I know wants to come round one evening and poke through my collection and salvage anything that they want, then you’d be more than welcome to let me know and we can see what we can arrange.
Going through my music collection, there are so many fantastic songs, albums and memories – I have the usual albums, and then quite a lot of singles, and a lot of promo CDs from promoters and radio stations, some of which didn’t even get commercial radio play – so it really is a treasure trove! I can remember back in 1996 getting my first CD and CD player for my birthday and it was a fascination that has stuck ever since.
It’s also something of a time-vortex, as all of the singles and albums are FILLED with inserts begging you to get your WAP (ha!) phone out and download a picture of the star by texting a number, or, worse, to receive a monophonic / polyphonic ringtone – HA!
Liberty X even had their own hotline!! 
@DarkAeon at last! A place that will answer my Liberty X ringtone and logo queries and concerns!—
Phil Mann (@philjohnmann) December 30, 2011
It truly is amazing to think of how far the music industry has come in the last five or six years, and how much more sophisticated both the market and the technology has since become. Never mind the switch from records to tape, or cassette to CD, I would say the shift for survival between early CDs and the CDs we get today has been the most noticeable change in music provision in recent history, and shows just how much technology has exploded in the last few years.
What is scary is that once this is all done, I will have around 50 continuous days worth of music on my iMac (around 1200 hours), and with my Spotify subscription and massive playlists that I manage, that becomes simply limitless! All that I can say is that it’s a good thing that I have eclectic tastes!
Now, where did I put that Vengaboys album…?!
As regular readers may be aware, this morning, I was very kindly invited along to the Press Launch for Jeff Wayne’s Musical Version Of The War Of The Worlds – The New Generation!
To say that I was jolly excited this morning would be something of an understatement!
Simon Mayo was on hand to chair the conference, along with Jeff Wayne, and the brand new Narrator (George Herbert), played by LIAM NEESON! 
Whilst I already knew about the tour dates, I had deliberately shied away from any information as to the new star that was being added to the production, as I wanted to get maximum impact from the day. All that I can say is that Liam is a FANTASTIC choice for the new Narrator, and that he is probably the only person alive today who could successfully take over the role from Richard Burton – absolutely LOVE Liam’s voice!
With The New Generation, we are promised a lot more in the way of special effects, technology and a ‘re-exploration’ of the original work. From his quote below, you can ascertain why the need existed for the role to be recast, and to be honest, as a fan, I can fully support this notion, and especially welcome the addition of deeper story lines:
“After long consideration,” says Jeff, “I concluded that for future productions, some of HG Wells’ storylines and characters should be re-explored. It would also give me the chance to re-interpret my compositions with the production techniques of today, exciting from a musician’s point of view.
But perhaps the greatest opportunity was revisiting the main character of George Herbert, The Journalist and the development of the love story between George and his fiancée Carrie (played by Anna-Marie Wayne). While it may have been the greatest opportunity, it was also the hardest decision to make because I knew that with a re-developed storyline, a new Journalist would need to be sought as Richard Burton’s original performance, was finite.
“And whoever that person might turn out to be, he would have to be of no less stature and quality of voice than that of Richard – an incredibly tough act to follow.
But once again I have been fortunate and have attracted Liam Neeson to these New Generation productions. He has, so-to-speak, been handed the ‘baton’ from Richard Burton, and I believe audiences and listeners alike will find Liam’s interpretation no less compelling.”
We were also treated to a sample of the holographics that have been recorded for the touring production, and I have to say that they were very impressive. Whilst the holographic head for Richard Burton was a technical feat at the time, I did feel that it was time for this to move on slightly, and with the new holographics that are being used (which includes a full body hologram, interacting with the cast (a world ‘first’ in live entertainment), along with an 11 foot high holographic head, and within the 2 hour CGI film, itself projected onto a 100 foot wide ‘animation wall’), I am very excited to see the technical aspects of this show going into motion.
Of course, one of the most visually striking features of the production is the Martian. Whilst none were (thankfully) running rampant in the conference, we are assured that there will be a “3 tonne, 35-foot tall Martian, firing real flame heat rays at the audience”. There will also be a levitation, and a Martian Fighting Machine will also ‘incinerate’ a cast member – which is cheery! 
We were played the end sequence to the CGI section and through that we heard some of The Eve Of The War – for those purists who are worried about a reinvention of the score, I don’t think there is anything to worry about here – it actually really came alive, and I thoroughly loved it! It was VERY hard not to stand up and dance along! I am very excited for the Double Album release that is coming in June 2012, to support this ‘re-exploration’.
The rest of the cast is yet to be announced, and are being held back until 2012, however, already I am super-excited for this new production!
A list of tour dates appears below, in addition to ticket prices for the UK and the like.
Tickets go on general sale on Friday 25th November, at 9am.
| Thurs 29 Nov | DUBLIN 02 ARENA |
| Sat 1 Dec | LIVERPOOL ECHO ARENA | |
| Sun 2 Dec | CARDIFF MOTORPOINT ARENA | |
| Tue 4 Dec | NOTTINGHAM CAPTIAL FM ARENA | |
| Thur 6 Dec | LONDON WEMBLEY ARENA | |
| Fri 7 Dec | BIRMINGHAM NIA | |
| Sat 8 Dec | MANCHESTER EVENING NEWS ARENA | |
| Sun 9 Dec | SHEFFIELD MOTORPOINT ARENA | |
| Mon 10 Dec | NEWCASTLE METRO RADIO ARENA | |
| Tues 11 Dec | GLASGOW SECC | |
| Thur 13 Dec | BOURNEMOUTH BIC | |
| Sat 15 Dec | LONDON O2 ARENA | |
| Sun 16 Dec | BRIGHTON BRIGHTON CENTRE |
£62.50 / £52.50 / £42.50 LONDON
£62.50 / £42.50 REGIONAL
| Wed 19 Dec | ROTTERDAM AHOY ARENA |
| Sat 22 Dec | LISBON PAVILHO ATLANTICO ARENA |
| Thurs 3 Jan | HAMBURG ARENA | |
| Fri 4 Jan | OBERHAUSEN ARENA | |
| Sat 5 Jan | BERLIN 02 ARENA | |
| Mon 7 Jan | NURNBERG ARENA | |
| Tues 8 Jan | MUNICH ARENA |
| Thurs 10 Jan | GDANSK ARENA |
I think that most people on the planet probably know that I am a huge Queen / Freddie fan! (they’re both very separate things, incidentally ) – I certainly shout out about it often enough hehe!
I LOVE the epic and geeky Google Doodle that has been put together to celebrate what would have been the late, great, Freddie Mercury’s 65th birthday:
This marks the first time that Google have done a Doodle as involved as this, and they’re getting increasingly more complex and beautiful, so it’s great that, even now, Freddie is helping to drive creativity forward! It’s also fantastic to know that everyone in the World today (with the exception of the US, who get it tomorrow, due to today being Labor Day) woke up to this on the Google homepage today.
One of the comments on the YouTube video that I posted above made me chuckle:
Only Freddie can have 301 views but 2551 likes.
Too true, too true! 
WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
Although statistics for my blog are not overly important to me, as I choose not to monetize etc, what does matter to me is all the people who take time to visit my site! Whether it’s a quick look at some half-naked totty, or if you’re here to read a theatre review, or a dedicated blog subscriber, then I offer you a HUGE thank you!
This post marks that the most conservative of the stats counters that I use has now just topped the half a million mark; a remarkable achievement for what is essentially a blog that I really just keep for myself to look back on when I’m old and grey, with no real agenda or marketing pull behind it. It also is nice to hit this mark at last, given that this blog represents several years of my life, and so it’s fab to be able to feel like it’s achieved something hehe.
I’ve met some AWESOME people via my writing this blog, and I genuinely want to thank everyone who has ever taken even a second of interest in my ramblings, you’re all awesome!!!
And now to celebrate, and toast the next half million, with an iced bun!
Gari xxx
I’ve just received a rather nice comment regarding a post on my blog from Ed Balls MP, the current Shadow Chancellor, which I thought I’d share in rare moment of vanity heh!
@DarkAeon – It was prompted by your excellent Wicked review on your blog…—
Ed Balls (@edballsmp) June 02, 2011
All very fabulous as I am not only a Labour Party member, but I also have a very keen interest in Finance / Economics, and so out of the entire shadow cabinet, the Shadow Chancellor is probably the role that I most like!
For anyone interested in reading my re-review of Wicked, please click here.
Thanks to all who continue to visit and comment, whether you’re a Shadow Chancellor or not, you’re all equally as fab – now tweet me and tell me lovely things and I’ll stick you on here too perhaps hehe!!!
Oh hai! *waves*
It’s been a while since I did a personal update to my blog, and so I figured that it’s about time for an update
I’ve recently started seeing the super lovely and gorgeous Max, who lives over in Bristol, and have to say that I am currently on Cloud Number 9 – very very happy at the moment, and genuinely couldn’t be happier! For those friends who are based in London, I shall have to arrange something soon so that folk get to can meet him, as we’re currently doing alternate weekends at each other’s houses (it’s great, I can tell people ‘I’m weekending at my rural retreat’ when they ask what I’m up to, and Max can dazzle folk in Brizzle by saying he’s ‘heading up to his city crashpad’ for a bit of weekend excitement hehe!).
Max is definitely bringing out some good traits in me, not only have I started drinking bucket loads of tea, but I’ve also started cooking again / eating properly – hurrah!!!
The weekend just gone, there was an awesome dinner/Eurovision party at Hugh & Max’s house, and, after a quick trip to the butcher, the greengrocer and the supermarket, Max and I pretty much spent 8+ hours solid cooking up a storm in his kitchen, and we made some of the most delicious food that I’ve ever tasted!! (modest, me?! heh!). For starters, we did spinach, goat’s cheese and cranberry sauce, encased in some super delicate filo pastry shapes that we made; the main course was lasagne (made completely from scratch, and using pork mince, beef mince and the nicest cuts of bacon I’ve ever seen!), served with salad and home-made garlic chapatis (ok, ok, garlic breads – spent most of the day teasing Max on how flat they were heh! Totally his creation though I should say, I nicked the photo from Hugh, as mine are stuck on my phone, hopefully he won’t mind!! ); desert was a strawberry and white chocolate cheese cake that was EPIC – we served 9 people with very decent sized portions, and we still only used half of it hehe!! From the feedback we received, it was 8 hours well spent, and truly was delicious!
Was also great fun to prepare the meal as Max and I seem to work very well together as a team – we had a great time blasting out Glee songs for the entirety of our time cooking in the kitchen, and, gays being gays, you can bet we had a good old sing and dance along whilst we were cooking too heh
(another photo credit for Hugh – I never seem to look photogenic in ANY pictures hehe! Think this is me battling with AirPlay on my iPad to get the next song to stream )
So yes, I am currently incredibly happy – and Max is very much to credit for this!! Very very lovely chap, and I am incredibly proud to call him my boyfriend – I really do hope that some of my friends get to meet him soon!
Work wise, I’m currently gearing up for Wimbledon, it’s come around so quickly again!! Two weeks in a bunker doing 16 hour days… joy!!! Heh! (I may roll my eyes, but I secretly very much enjoy it, always great to do something a bit different from the ‘norm’, and I really like working with the people involved – plus I like getting to watch all the matches on TV and it technically counts as ‘work’ hehe!). This weekend, I think I’ll need to head to NEXT or similar to try to find a decent suit to add to my Wimbledon wardrobe.
The main excitement for this mid-week period is that my HTC Sensation is due to be delivered by Thursday – hurrah! Will be SO glad to get shot of my Samsung Jet – biggest piece of bloated, over-hyped junk that I have EVER been saddled with! HTC Sensation looks like it’s going to be the mutz nutz, and I’m very excited to get my hands on one. Moving across to Vodafone from 3 Mobile too, so I am looking forward to actually having a signal again! hehe.
I’m just about to watch the US space shuttle Endeavor launch for the last time on NASA TV – a very sad moment, still absolutely gutted that NASA has been forced to terminate it’s Space Programme. Am a big space geek, and it’s sad to think that by the end of July, it’s very likely that all of the space shuttles will have retired from service. Travesty!
I am off work from Friday onwards, really can’t wait for a few days off! I am free on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday next week (24-26 May) if anyone that I know fancies catching up at all?
Right, I need to stop writing, as otherwise I’m going to miss the space shuttle launch, and that’ll upset me greatly!! No seriously… I need to stop typing… like now….. now….. now…. right…. gooooone…. now! #SpaceBoyGari
(PS – thanks muchly for taking an interest in what’s happening with me and my little World – very much appreciated!! x)
Yesterday I did something that I am finding myself doing increasingly often these days – I made a completely random, but somewhat expensive, technology purchase!
This time, it was the turn of the newly launched Nintendo 3DS, and I have to say, it’s turned out to be one of my favourite impulse buys to date!
T’other half, Mister Karl, and his friend Craig, went to the midnight launch event at HMV Oxford Street and were within the first 10 or so people in the queue, which is pretty epic, and as the weekend has progressed, I found myself wishing I’d picked a console up too! (by sheer co-incidence, I also could have been like 15th in the queue if I’d taken a wristband when they were passing them out as I was visiting them at the same time, bringing some supplies at lunchtime to keep them going!).
I’m still getting to grips with many of the aspects of the console, as it is absolutely feature packed, however thus far I have found that I really love the Augmented Reality functionality (big AR fanboy, and it’s great to see this ‘new’ use for it!) and the StreetPass functionality is superb – really helps to keep you feeling ‘engaged’ with your console, even when you’re not playing.
HMV turned out to be the best place for me to purchase on the high street as I was trading in my pristine old DS Lite to help get the price down (albeit with a small expense to buy a new charger from GAME so that HMV would take it!). All in, I managed to pick mine up in a bundle with the EXCELLENT game, Ridge Racer 3D, for a terrific £194.
If you are reading this blog and have an intention of buying, please do shop around as prices are subject to change drastically after launch weekend, and with so many deals, bundles and the trade-in options, you really do need to shop around both on the high street and online to get the best one!
If anyone is interested in adding me as a friend, my friend code is 0989-1731-1176 (please use the ‘contact me‘ functionality on my blog to let me know your friend-code so that it gets validated on the system and whatnot!).
Also, if you’d like to download my Mii on your system, please feel free to scan my QR code as below – please click to make full size if it’s not working for you at the current size:
As you can tell from the pictures that Karl snapped above (we went to Starbucks for a coffee and to have a play with my new console) I went for the black console in the end. The blue one was kind of enticing, however at the same time it was a bit of an odd colour choice I felt – it’s certainly not a conventional shade. Had it been red, or a nicer blue, I’d probably have snapped that one up instead. As is though, I do like the black console, even if it does look perhaps a little more formal than I’d like from a games unit!
Just as an aside about the 3D aspect of the console, I happen to think that this has been done really nicely (despite what you may have heard) – sure, it’s not perfect, as one would expect, but certain games (such as Ridge Racer 3D) *really* benefit from the use of this technology!
On consideration, I will most likely keep the 3D aspect just to gaming, as I am not too fussed about having menus etc in 3D – especially as when you flick between applications there are varying degrees of intensity in the 3D, so you may find you keep having to adjust to meet your comfort levels.
If you have just purchased one and are looking for the first thing to do on it, you totally need to hit up the AR application and then catch your eyeballs as they fall out of your head in amazement!
Would be interested to hear what others who own the console think of it, and do please remember to add my to your Mii collection / friends lists folks!!
So, after much deliberation on my part, I’ve finally allowed myself to be pulled into the swirling time vortex that is World Of Warcraft.
Currently I’m rolling a Level 9 Gnome Mage called Crinx – partly due to his wrinkly crinkly nature, and also because my boyfriend has started up a new character named Brinx to play alongside with mine
He also seems to have a little bit of the Wagner from X-Factor look, no?! Loaf shack, la-la Loaf shack!
Finding Mage to be nice and powerful, but it really really sucks when you get more than one enemy at once attacking you; plus you cannot run away from stuff, as you have to be facing (and oft stationery) to be able to cast the spells. I get guilty pangs when in a group and everyone else is killing stuff with brute force, and I’m waiting on my (n00by awesome) Arcane Missiles to charge up! Very much looking forward to Frost Nova though!
Fortunately Karl and, surprisingly, my kid sister Angela, are both experts at WoW, so I’m never stuck for help etc!
People seem surprised that I’ve gotten to pretty much Level 10 in just 2 days with not many gaming hours behind me, but it’s not like I’m complaining – without point of reference I’ve not really got much idea how well/badly I’m doing etc. From what I gather, rolling a Gnome Mage is fairly common amongst first-timers (here was I thinking I’d picked something good and different…!) so that encourages me too!
Oh, and there is TOTALLY no shame to being a gnome!!
WoW and associated expansion packs are currently super cheap at the moment (until the end of November), so if you were considering playing, now would be a good time to get started – I’m all fully downloaded and expansioned up, and don’t have to start paying until January 2011, hurrah!
If anyone that I know from online is interested in exchanging details so that I can build up my social profile on WoW – that would be awesome – please can you contact me to let me know your character’s name, or Read ID addy?
Pals, work colleagues and regular readers will know that when I’m idle, I love a good doodle – even though I’m not in any way good at doing it
Last night I decided to upgrade from my usual scribble pad – my employer’s whiteboard – to Karl’s iPad (whilst he doodled me a picture on mine).
Here’s what I drew:
… and here’s Karl’s rather cute doodle
From these drawings, it’s clear to me that sleepy gays made the dinosaurs awesome, yay!
