Hairspray Weekend

So I’m a little behind on my blogging. I’ll do last weekend first, and try and get this weekend’s activities up soon.

Last weekend (May 1st) was the big final performance of Hairspray in Melbourne. Saturday arvo I went over to Vanessa’s and we did our thing. We watched Grey’s Anatomy and Private Practice, watched the 30Rock 100^th episode, watched more Bones, and started our new dinner show Rizzoli and Isles. That was Saturday night. Sunday we got up, walked the pooches, dressed smartly and headed into the city. We popped into the Ian Potter Arts gallery to see the VCE arts exhibition in which Ness’ brother Nick was featured. There were lots of cool stuff – like creepy costume, destroyed wedding dress and pretty photos. There was also some weird stuff that I just didn’t get – but that’s art for you. Not everything is for everyone. Nick’s work was very original especially compared to some of the other stuff. Creepy/Weird but in a cool Tim Burton way! I liked all the detail, but my golly he must use a ton of ink!

After that we headed up to the theatre district. We got lunch in this little café next to The Comedy Theatre. It looked nice, but they took forever with some of our orders, and I had to go ask about my milkshake and I wasn’t the only one reminding them about stuff. –So I definitely wouldn’t recommend it if you were in a hurry! I mean they took the orders on Post-its!

After that we headed up to The Princess Theatre. I went to join the line for the toilets while Ness waited to meet her friend outside. My friend Laura from high school was working there again, and I chatted to her for a while, while I waited to move through the line. We had seats right near the end, at the first door, so we had a ton of people climbing over us cause they were not early getting into the theatre, but the seats were pretty good once things got started. Even though we were only 1 seat from the end, you can see just about everything from there.

Now I love Hairspray more than the next person probably…but its not MY show. This one belongs to Ness. It is her obsession, and I accept that. It’s hard to be obsessed when you only see things for the 2^nd time at the final show. The last show was a blast. Everyone was extra excited and cheering which was fun! It didn’t have quite the same ‘rock star’ vibe that the final Wicked had, but Wicked is a very different show altogether vibe-wise. Hairspray had a lot more kids in the audience…some who were very annoying and had annoying parents!

At intermission I ran into Laura again, and chatted to her about the shows I saw in NY and about what I’d been up to. It was really good talking to her. I don’t really see anyone from school anymore and always end up running into Laura at the theatre, but we never really have a chance to talk.

After the show, and the tons of cheers and applause we gave the cast, Ness and I raced straight out the doors and to the front of the line for the stage door – we planned our seats especially for that!

It was my first Hairspray stage door experience and my first since New York. I brought along the program and decided on having the cast sign the front cover, because it would have taken too long to find the pages – cause it was crazy busy…but I probably would have had time, but I know who they all are! Oh well. Everyone was really lovely and that made it really fun!

After it was all over…Ness went looking for her missing cardigan, and ended up having to go through the stage door to get it…which I thought was really cool! – She crossed through to the other side! Nobody does that!

We headed  home…well back to Ness’ place, after picking up the puppies from her parent’s house. We ate some toast – having not had any dinner, and watched some more Bones to cheer us up.

It was a very full on weekend, but it was a lot of fun. Unfortunately there are no good future musical prospects! I have no interest in ‘Dr Zhivago’ or the Phantom of the Opera sequel ‘Love Never Dies’.  I don’t know what the next big show to come to Melbourne will be, but hopefully it will be something awesome! –Maybe I should start saving in advance, always keep a little musical savings fund going!
I’m surprised Hairspray didn’t stay very long…it seems like a short run in Melbourne to me, same for Mary Poppins. But maybe I’ve lost perspective after Wicked was going for over a year in Melbourne!

But I guess really when it comes down to it, I just need a job – regular income. That would make musicals easier.

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Carlie

Rock of Ages

It was so nice to be back at the theatre. My 2nd time this year. Saturday night I got all gussied up and drove into the city to see Rock of Ages at the Comedy Theatre. I was on time, until I started looking for parking...that's always my downfall. I must remember to leave earlier next time. I ended up parking in Lonsdale street just down from the theatre in a parking garage that only charged 7 bucks for the night. -A pretty good deal if you ask me!

I met Ness at the usual restaurant in Burke st and ordered the first thing that popped into my head - pizza. Which I don't think I've actually ever ordered from that place before, so its ok. -not that I NEED to justify my food choices to anyone.

We headed down to the theatre around 7:30pm, bought our programs for a respectable $20, and hung around in the lobby till it was time to go in. -I haven't been to the Comedy Theatre since I saw Avenue Q with Brett and Nick years ago, but the lobby of the theatre reminded me of the Broadway Theater in New York where Promises, Promises was.

We had good seat on the aisle, with no great visual blocks or anything. It was an interested crowd of people in the audience. We were definitely on the very lowest end of the age scale...except for maybe a few teens. Mostly it was oldies..but that's to be expected with the kind of music.

Once the show got going, I really started enjoying it. I didn't really know what to expect. It was definitely funnier than I expected, and the legendary music was worked in really well. -It was hard to not sing along.
They gave us fake LED lighters to wave at the door...but no one really used them till near the end.
My fave characters were Regina, Franz and the narrator guy..whose name I can't remember right now...I want to say Lonny...The main two were really good too!

There was one bad thing about the show - that they served drinks during the show and took orders...people would walk up and down the aisles taking orders while the performers were on stage...it was somewhat distracting.

By the time the show was over, my ears were ringing like a real rock concert! There was no where to go afterwards, so we dawdled around for a bit before heading off to our cars. The 7 buck carpark worked out good -although it was a little dark up there when I was leaving, but I was parked right next to the elevators so I felt safe. I was home pretty quick too - its always an easy trip, only 20 minutes give or take.
I was singing the songs and was way too hyper to sleep, but after starting to watch some tv, I became exhausted very quickly, and was out like a light when I went to bed. -I did have weird dreams though....long episodic ones...

Anyways all in all it was a good night, a lot of fun and I might see it again before it leaves Melbourne if I can find the money.

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Carlie

Quiet Times

Well so much for the dancing thing...I haven't done that in weeks! I am still playing Wii almost every day though. The cold weather has come in and I am feeling less energetic. I'm thinking about getting back into the walking...maybe.

Nikki's birthday was last week, the 9th. I was at Ness', stayed over Friday night and we went shopping on Saturday. I bought a pair of slippers, and new black boots. We then proceeded to watch an additional 6 episodes of Bones, after 6 the night before. -She has me hooked...and its trouble, cause I'm gonna have to keep myself away from spoilers...and new eps! haha.

So after a great weekend, last week sucked! We basically had no internet for a week cause we used it all up with a whole week to go. After a couple of days of not being able to do anything or download anything, I was in hell! At least I could access twitter...otherwise I would have been completely miserable! I can't believe with all this my parents still haven't done anything about getting a higher internet limit! I've offered to pay towards it and still nothing! By Thursday I was ready to bang my head against a brick wall. I imagine it is only gonna get worse each month, and so will probably use our quota by halfway through this month.
To make matters even worse last week, my external hard drive decided to act up and not work, so I couldn't even spend my time watching stuff stored on it, like old SNL or anything! I've spent the past few days trying to get the important stuff off it in case it gets lost when I try fixing it.

This weekend Ness and I are going to see Rock of Ages. I don't know a whole lot about it, other than its all 80's rock ballads - which should be good! Today Mum and I went to Chadstone in order to find something to wear. It was pretty quiet for school holidays -which was awesome! We tried Myer, but they had nothing. I bought some cheap makeup from Priceline, and we looked around a few more shops, before finally finding a few options at Just Jeans. I ended up getting a dress which Mum suggested -which is why I don't go shopping alone...I tend to not like stuff on my own. We stopped in to visit my Grandma after shopping, because Mum had to deliver a check there anyways. So we had a little chat, then stopped at Ashburton on the way home to get a few groceries. We got a few things cheap at Not Quite Right. Bought a bunch of things which only cost 18bucks in the end -which is awesome. But I dropped the thing of pasta sauce and it went all over the floor...it was icky, and it went all over my mum's shoe...I felt bad for the poor guy that had to clean it up.

Still nothing on the job front. The net was too slow to look last week. I did have an interview a couple of weeks ago, the job sounded sorta ok, but it was a very small office and was all the way in Moorabbin, which would get annoying to drive to all the time. Ideally I'd really like to work in the city. But we'll see what turns up.

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Carlie

Dancing My Cares Away

So since I'm mostly homebound these days, I don't get a whole lot of exercise as a result.

I've tried to do what I can, I don't like walking...I find it kinda stupid...or maybe its just that I've been walking around the same streets for 25 years.
I've tried pilates and stretching, not that that does a lot...but it counts. I try to be more active when I play wii sports....moving around when I can...

But I've found that I miss my dancing days, so I've made a few playlists that make me want to dance around my room...and before I know it, I'm doing a proper dance workout. The problem is I find myself doing it late at night...I should try to do it earlier.
I started out with my 'dance playlist' on my ipod. A few Glee songs, and other active songs. Tonight I moved onto old hits from parties and dances, stuff with actions...YMCA, Blame it on the Boogie, Nutbush etc. Its not quite as good a workout, but it still gets my heart racing.

I'll have to come up with some new songs though, cause I think I'll get bored quickly.


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Carlie

April

Wow, time really flies! I always thought I'd have a job by April...but I guess I'm not really trying. Not sure what that's all about. I gotta stop procrastinating and get on with it.

So last Thursday I went over to Jacinta's. We did SNL day. We watched the Best of Mike Myers, plus a few recent eps, and then an old old ep from 1996 with Jim Carrey. It was nice to get out. -We didn't get up to anything this week, but hopefully will find something to do next week.

This week, I had a pretty quiet week. Went to visit my Grandma with my Mum on Sunday and we sat out on the terrace in the sunshine. It was nice. We talked about everyone. We talked about my sister's trip, and about my trip and places we'd like to go. We then started talking about old movies and books. We ended up talking heaps about Gone With The Wind and Little Women, and Elizabeth Taylor. It was really nice, I don't have a lot to say about myself. I've never been good at talking about myself, or talking myself up. I think that might be one of my issues with jobs. I can talk about many topics, but its hard to talk about myself. I'm not that interesting really. Its funny, for someone who talks a lot...and I mean A LOT, haha, I don't really talk about much at all.

Anyways...I went to Ness' on Monday night cause she was working over the weekend. It was a little confusing for our heads to get used to MONDAY, but we didn't take long to get into our usual routine, of Bones and The Good Guys. After that we watched 30Rock to cheer us up after Bones, and then ended up watching Pushing Daisies cause it was on tv, one of my faves too!


The internet usage is going like crazy in my house...which I don't have a problem with, its the fact that no one seems interested in doing anything about it. I've offered to contribute to getting more, I've looked up alternatives...but I can't call them up and change the plan myself...if that is an option. I'm tired of being the only one that looks at the usage and curbs my use, when everyone else just does what they like. My sister got a laptop and that pushed up the use, then my bro got his iPhone, and Xbox and now his laptop....and yet our internet plan has stayed the same over this past year. We constantly go over the limit before the end of the month, and nobody seems to care! This is what I hate about my family, we outgrow something, and we just spend the rest of our lives trying to squeeze into something small - like our house, or car, or bookshelves...
Anyways...this month we used 30% in 6 days, and 50% in less than 2 weeks...so I'm not talking about a little bit extra, I'm talking about TONS more downloads than usual. I have been downloading my tv for about 5 years now, and can't go backwards! My brother contributes nothing to the house - and ok, I don't contribute much these days either, but I'm will to...if he does. As a media student, I know what uses more and stuff, and we are a media heavy family....nothing wrong with that, if we can support our habits...but we can't, or won't.

Okay enough ranting for me.

Football season is back, so things are getting crazy in my house. Las Saturday night I was all set up to amuse myself watching new Grey's and PPP in my room....but my dad decided to be noisy right outside my door...He's so annoying and rude sometimes. I found an old story I had started writing about my family. -I always had plans to write a book about my life and my family when I was younger. This one from about 5 years ago, where I was describing each family member, including myself. Not show off, but I thought it was quite well written, if I do say so myself. haha. But there was one line about my dad that kinda sent a shiver down my spine. I referred to him as "A power hungry villain". I can think of a few other ways to describe him now, but "villain" is interesting. It made me think. I'm not sure if that is true, but its dark nonetheless. Sometimes I forget just how long I have been fighting with him. Its part of why my sister hates me. She blames me for every fight my parents have, because they used to fight over me...Mum would defend me, and my dad would then fight with her. I can see where she's coming from, but I don't think my sister will ever really understand.

Okay, enough of that gloomy topic....back to footy, its good cause it means people are home less on the weekends -which will come in real handy when I finally DO get a job. It is also bad because everyone gets so worked up about it. They turn into people that act completely crazy, rationality goes out the window.

Anyways....The sooner I get out of here the better I guess.



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Carlie

Musical Soundtracks and Personal Space

So I've been busy this week. I hung out with Ness Tuesday night and Wednesday. Thursday night Jacinta and I went to see Rango, it wasn't fantastic, but it was funny at times. I thought the references were a tad over the heads of kids. Plus there wasn't enough to keep kids entertained. But it was still worth seeing for 7 bucks! lol.

Last night Ness and I did Bones/Thursday night TV night. We did chocolatepalooza, but we didn't make it through all of it....because we know when to stop! A very good sign. lol.

My amazon order arrived on Wednesday, so I now have more dvds to add to the watchlist. I also got the Addams Family original cast recording. Its nice to finally have my own copy. I played it in the car yesterday. I really loved that show, and would have seen it again if I could have.
I also bought the Australian cast recording of Mary Poppins thursday night. I haven't listened to all of it yet. Its a little odd with the applause from the audience at the end of songs, but its still good.

I also had to take my ER season 13 dvds back to JB on thursday, to get them replaced because one of the eps had faults. But the new copy seems to work properly. Now I've only got seasons 14 and 15 to buy/watch. That'll be fun. Hopefully they'll go on special sometime soonish.


Last week was fun with super duper slow internet, but luckily there wasn't much to download. But it set me back with my job searching. So I'll try to put in some time this weekend and apply for some. Yes I need money, yes I need something to do....but it has to be something decent, in terms of description/tasks.


I forgot I was going to post a comment about this woman at my Grandma's home...she has serious boundaries issues. Everytime I see her she ends up touching me. She put her hand through the open car window and patted my head...ick. Maybe I just have extra sensitive personal space issues. But I don't like total strangers touching my head or shoulders. Its creepy. I'm not a hugger...I was when I was a kid, but not now. I was never a huggy teen either. So keep your distance lady - its not nice!


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Carlie

Mary Poppins

So there you have it, my first proper musical/theatre show of 2011 was Mary Poppins. I guess March isn't too bad. I've got Rock of Ages coming up soon, and the final show of Hairspray on May 1st. Not sure what else is coming to town this year, but I'm sure something good will pop up!

I really liked Mary Poppins, Verity Hunt-Ballad was really good, she's got a great voice and personality - which is always important. Marina Prior was very entertaining as Mrs Banks. She was really funny - which I didn't know she could be, having only ever seen her at Carols by Candlelight and the Rob Guest Endowment show. But the more she did the worse I felt for my mum cause she wasn't there the night they went. We didn't have the regular Mr Banks though, and they didn't either. I thought the kids were good. We had Kade and Scout. But the girl reminded us of Paige from Brothers & Sisters -which was weird. But they were good performers, not too over the top or annoying -except when they were meant to be.
I thought the guy that played Burt was really good. His singing wasn't fantastic, but he had acting chops, personality and was a great dancer.

The show was good, it was good that it was different from the movie, because that would be hard to do on stage. I had a few issues with things such as The Queen being there...when at the time its set -there was a king....but anyways. I thought it was really cool when they did Step in Time and Burt went over the top of the stage and up/down the sides. But the coolest thing was Mary flying out over the audience and up to the roof. that was SOOOO awesome! -She didn't fly over us, but I think that was better, cause we could see it better.


I ended up buying a mug with Supercalifragilistic written on it. It's HUGE! - it will have timeshare with the Friends coffee bowl. I didn't buy the program because Mum and Nikki had one and I don't see the need for multiples....I'll probably steal it for myself eventually anyways.

So our seats were pretty awesome. We were in row G, off to the left of the aisle, I've never sat that close at Her Majesty's Theatre before. The view was awesome, 'cept I had a really tall guy in front of me, so I had to keep moving my head. But 2 people next to us never turned up, so I moved over at intermission and then had a perfect view.

Our biggest complaint was that there was a family next to us, with 2 kids, including 1 very little girl who wouldn't SHUT UP. She talked through the whole thing, and the mother kept getting things out for her. It was ridiculous! I'm all for kids being able to go to the theatre - although I think there should be some kind of age requirement....someone brought a baby....who turned out to be quiet as a mouse! Go figure?! But people should know if their kids can handle being quiet. Its disrespectful to the actors, not the mention the high paying patrons around them. I mean it does cost over $100 bucks, so don't let your kids ruin it for people who pay good money to be there. Yes its a whole family sort of show, but its not a little kids show, its for bigger kids who can be quiet. Generally kids would act the same at the theatre as at movies, so if your kids talk or move around at the movies at lot - don't take them to live theatre!
Okay rant over....hopefully I will be able to train my kids to appreciate the theatre etiquette....or I'll leave them at home. -Haha!


Traffic was nuts getting in, and was nuts getting out too. Roads were blocked and so I had to go a different way to how I usually go, so that wasn't fun. I gave up on free parking after driving around for half an hour. I ended up going to the parking garage next to Her Majesty's Theatre. It cost 10bucks, but it was worth it in the end. Plus I did my first hook turn...I've never done one before - I don't like to drive in the city.


I got home just before Midnight, and talked to mum about it, I was way too awake so I turned on the computer, and somehow managed to end up watching half an ep of Private Practice....I only was looking up 1 scene...oh well. I got to bed at 2am...but am now totally exhausted!


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Carlie