This is a poem I more or less finished about three weeks ago - Enjoy:
/
Stargaze
This Ain't Love I Know
But the Feeling Fills You In
to a world you've never really known
To Stargaze this will be
I Gaze for You and Me
What will come, go, be learned
And How We'll unravel in time.
Between the light and dark
They are grey
Our Dreams are Grey
But Why Let us Be That? -
Let's be our Limit
The Sky is the Dark
a Neverending Arch
shot by the stars
As They Shine From Afar
Lets lie back on the grass
And Stargaze at the Sky
Pointing Out You And I
/
My Spell Check is a bit out of whack so sorry for any mistakes I've yet to correct
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Friday, June 25, 2010
SONG/POEM?
Above - Today's Dilemma /
I Felt Like Doing Another Post, But What On?
Poetry, Although Nice, Should be Broken Up With Variety Surely?
Ok, I'm Decided
Song
/
Because I haven't ever written a full song, I'm just going to introduce All Kinds of Different Songs That I love to pieces, or that just have taken control of my brain that day -
Warpaint are an LA All Girl Quartet Who Make the Sounds of Dreams almost ridiculously easy /
The fact that any of their twinkly guitars and hushed, whispered harmonies haven't been soundtracked over a BMW haunting empty bypasses at night is a strange bundle by marketeers, but a victory for us and presumably Warpaint, who despite a star studded following in LA, have refused to climb themselves in to fame - Hell! even at The Great Escape in Brighton this Year, after their gig they went outside and performed a cappella for a few fans on the boardwalk!
Regardless, this is my favourite song of theirs so far, a 6 minute wonder that shouldn't work on paper (Whispery Vocals, Repeated Noodly Riff, 6 minutes with little change in tempo) but it somehow works in to something in the same Fantascape that Florence Welch seems to reign,
Hope You People Have The Same Taste As Me
Enjoy:
/
/
I'm Not Sure How You Get Videos Up on This but Hopefully This Works
I Felt Like Doing Another Post, But What On?
Poetry, Although Nice, Should be Broken Up With Variety Surely?
Ok, I'm Decided
Song
/
Because I haven't ever written a full song, I'm just going to introduce All Kinds of Different Songs That I love to pieces, or that just have taken control of my brain that day -
Warpaint are an LA All Girl Quartet Who Make the Sounds of Dreams almost ridiculously easy /
The fact that any of their twinkly guitars and hushed, whispered harmonies haven't been soundtracked over a BMW haunting empty bypasses at night is a strange bundle by marketeers, but a victory for us and presumably Warpaint, who despite a star studded following in LA, have refused to climb themselves in to fame - Hell! even at The Great Escape in Brighton this Year, after their gig they went outside and performed a cappella for a few fans on the boardwalk!
Regardless, this is my favourite song of theirs so far, a 6 minute wonder that shouldn't work on paper (Whispery Vocals, Repeated Noodly Riff, 6 minutes with little change in tempo) but it somehow works in to something in the same Fantascape that Florence Welch seems to reign,
Hope You People Have The Same Taste As Me
Enjoy:
/
/
I'm Not Sure How You Get Videos Up on This but Hopefully This Works
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Poetry: Accelerated
Ok, This is some more Accelerated Poetry - something may come who knows - right now I'm in complete silence, no music to influence anytime signatures
/
Parasite, come here
bite in deep
the blood is warm
Parasite, stay near
let me be your feast
you keep me calm
Parasite, my dear
you forgiving beast
look at what you've become
Parasite, oh dear
your nectar seeps
you seem so overrun
Parasite, see clear
our bond must cease
let go of my arm
Parasite, leave here
please release
this is causing me harm
Parasite, memories won't clear
those permanent scars I can see
remind me what happened here
and how you left with a part of me
/
Wow I'm Surprised /
This Won't Have a Name, It's Very Easy To Figure Out The Meaning
If It Has One
/
Parasite, come here
bite in deep
the blood is warm
Parasite, stay near
let me be your feast
you keep me calm
Parasite, my dear
you forgiving beast
look at what you've become
Parasite, oh dear
your nectar seeps
you seem so overrun
Parasite, see clear
our bond must cease
let go of my arm
Parasite, leave here
please release
this is causing me harm
Parasite, memories won't clear
those permanent scars I can see
remind me what happened here
and how you left with a part of me
/
Wow I'm Surprised /
This Won't Have a Name, It's Very Easy To Figure Out The Meaning
If It Has One
Poetry: Accelerated
I'm gonna try some instantaneous poetry right now /
For some writers there's something unnerving about writing STRAIGHT on to a laptop
but I like the thrill of an artistic challenge
/
With The Shadows
Black hollow whispers
the scratch is deep within the wall
the dark corroding through insulation
the foam leaks out
The island will be submerged
three thousand miles below
I'll shine a torch up
to the surface
and make shapes
with the shadows
cha cha chu
cha cha chu
The blank tape reaches it's close
I want the static to envelope us
it has texture and a groove
It is like no other;
it has consistency
yet evolves constantly
Life is Static
/
A Tad Scatter Shot but hopefully I saved it in the last verse
That "cha cha-" bit? don't know why but I felt like it but also probably because I was listening to The Horror's "Primary Colours" and I guess that affected the overall tone of the poem /
I like to think of my poems as songs with no music and my readers bring their own beat, rhythm and melody to it in their heads as they read it.
An interesting experiment for me - but what did you think of it?
For some writers there's something unnerving about writing STRAIGHT on to a laptop
but I like the thrill of an artistic challenge
/
With The Shadows
Black hollow whispers
the scratch is deep within the wall
the dark corroding through insulation
the foam leaks out
The island will be submerged
three thousand miles below
I'll shine a torch up
to the surface
and make shapes
with the shadows
cha cha chu
cha cha chu
The blank tape reaches it's close
I want the static to envelope us
it has texture and a groove
It is like no other;
it has consistency
yet evolves constantly
Life is Static
/
A Tad Scatter Shot but hopefully I saved it in the last verse
That "cha cha-" bit? don't know why but I felt like it but also probably because I was listening to The Horror's "Primary Colours" and I guess that affected the overall tone of the poem /
I like to think of my poems as songs with no music and my readers bring their own beat, rhythm and melody to it in their heads as they read it.
An interesting experiment for me - but what did you think of it?
Poetry: The First Of
This is Perhaps my best poem, it actually was recently Highly Commended in The National Poetry Company, so that must mean there's some merit to it
Also, I feel that I should go in to some description in to what i meant by "Swanny" to describe this - Imagine a Swan sitting on the black, rubbery riverbed by a lake on a dark overcast day; The White of it's feathers has dulled and there are specks of black mud in it's coat; It rises and readies it's heavy, weighted wings to fly, and soon it escapes the struggle of the river bed and soars as you watch and weep -
That's How I'd Describe My Poetry
/
This Has No Name (Untitled Was Already Taken)
I am from the vapour of the shirt
I am from the puff puff puff like a calabash
I am from the very thin, burning rim
I am from under the cold tap
I am from the pain that wouldn't go away.
From the door with no knob
From the unused tree house
From tiny cushions home to severe amounts of moss, damp and spiders
From the trampoline covered in the faded petals of a blossom tree.
From the traditional Lamb
From the no lamb on Sunday
From the lying toad
From the escape of a mental home
From my Dad's office
From the standing hare that looked like a dog.
From the union of blood, success and tragedy
All these things I loved dearly,
so odd and on their own.
Home is where the heart is; but first you have to find home.
/
What Do You Think? - Has This somehow made my blog somewhat more credible or to your interests? - or just added to the pile of regurgitated shite? -
Opinions People, It's My Heroin, Supply Me Guiltless
Also, I feel that I should go in to some description in to what i meant by "Swanny" to describe this - Imagine a Swan sitting on the black, rubbery riverbed by a lake on a dark overcast day; The White of it's feathers has dulled and there are specks of black mud in it's coat; It rises and readies it's heavy, weighted wings to fly, and soon it escapes the struggle of the river bed and soars as you watch and weep -
That's How I'd Describe My Poetry
/
This Has No Name (Untitled Was Already Taken)
I am from the vapour of the shirt
I am from the puff puff puff like a calabash
I am from the very thin, burning rim
I am from under the cold tap
I am from the pain that wouldn't go away.
From the door with no knob
From the unused tree house
From tiny cushions home to severe amounts of moss, damp and spiders
From the trampoline covered in the faded petals of a blossom tree.
From the traditional Lamb
From the no lamb on Sunday
From the lying toad
From the escape of a mental home
From my Dad's office
From the standing hare that looked like a dog.
From the union of blood, success and tragedy
All these things I loved dearly,
so odd and on their own.
Home is where the heart is; but first you have to find home.
/
What Do You Think? - Has This somehow made my blog somewhat more credible or to your interests? - or just added to the pile of regurgitated shite? -
Opinions People, It's My Heroin, Supply Me Guiltless
ACTIONTRACKED: The Nutty Serial That Won't Get Stuck In Yo' Teeth
Ok, The Last of these - Although it does dip somewhat around the "Thank You" bit, I'd Personally pull a Spaced and skip to the end;
Regardless, You Might Still Enjoy It:
/
Part 5: The Redemption
Wow, that went fast, Transition Year gone WOOP WOOP, Fifth Year now heading towards us like a voluminous dark cloud. YIKEs!
Still, all we can do is wait and prepare for the bitter assault of work that will come at us, this time with extra vigour that it presumably built up during our year-long truce, and what you do most during Fifth Year other than pant-wettingly heavy amounts of Leaving Cert preparation is looking back and thinking about how awesome Transition Year was. So why not get to the point and purpose of this entire blog and write about the swan song (I almost wrote "swang" there but I thought that I should try and resist having abbreviations and conjunctions take over our world) that was Actiontrack.
Well for those who are reading this and hadn't seen the one and only production of JAWS: The Musical and are seemingly begging me to go in to encyclopaedic detail of the production and plot: tough luck, blogee, you're just going to have to let that slide past you like this year's Glastonbury - all you're going to get is my hazy summary of events.
It overall was an incredibly busy week. I remember at the start thinking we'd be doing ZIP ZAP BOING! each morning yet I was oh-so-wrong as the realities of production hit home, and the dizzying amounts of work and the untapped flow of creativity took over. Each break and lunch left us all starving as we gorged ourselves on anything, just anything to give us enough energy for the next dance rehearsal. To be honest, during the whole week my kidneys were painful with exhaustion and I couldn't stand for long without needing to sit down and rest my deflated legs. One morning I actually slept through my alarm I was so tired - which doesn’t seem like anything major - we all do it eventually – but my alarm isn't a little ringing clock or one of these EXCURCIATINGLY ANNOYING dadadaduh digital ones that slowly build in ear-bleedage until you turn them off. No, my alarm is a speaker-box right next to my pillowed head that blasts out Florence + the Machine each morning - and I still slept through all twenty minutes of it!
Either way despite our tired, creaking mass we still kept going on that last day, which involved putting the entire set design together, sound and video checks, setting up the seating rows, learning new dance steps, prepping our costumes and fitting in a whole dress rehearsal while the bustling queue outside tried to drown out our howlings of 'The Head, The Tail, And The Whole Damn Thing'.
As the lights went down and we scampered back into our 'green room' only to scurry back to clear out and take apart our week's work - tears stained faces as the end had rolled over and left us, not just the end of the show, but for some their whole time here in the school. It was rejuvenating and saddening as we tore down our papier maché and willow sharks, but for some it was a metaphor, the ridding of the ephemeral, taking down what was never meant to last.
A special extra big jazz handed Thank You must go to the Actiontrack team - who tried to stay oh-so-modest behind their instruments and amongst the crowd and criminally never stood up to take their long overdue and deserved bow at the end. So I might as well try to ruin your anonymity by thanking Nick, the Hannibal of the Actiontrack team, who was able to siphon our creative flow into something of the calibre as the final show; Nate, if we were to still go by A-Team logic would be Howlin' Mad Murdoch, who pieced together what a bunch of kids caught on a sound recorder and turned it in to one effective and unnerving soundscape and also taught me the revelation of Power Chords; Katie who let everyone relive the ART ATTACK! phase of their childhood by making excellent set dressings in the form of giant hanging legs or dead tiger sharks; and to Molly whose cheesy dance moves were another highlight of the show, and who also taught us something we will never forget - that the "Shake Your Tail Feather" move originates from the original Hairspray.
So to cap this all off - hmm what to say - I’ve got nothing planned - I have to have something, every other post had some kind of simple, self-referential, expectant poetry to it - Hope It Won't Stink et all - I can't be expectant now unless I end on a downer mentioning Fifth year, but now that's not right - think of something; what would Nick say; he'd always have something planned, Like Hannibal - wait that's it!
(*cough*-clear throat-*cough* deep breath in, look up, jut out jaw, do an Eastwood Squint)
Actiontrack was all about taking the different frayed ends of our imaginations and piecing them together and weaving it in to something that can be presented and get across the true overwhelming freedom Transition Year brought us, and despite it's freeform nature, it had planned to bring all fifty of us together and just make a show for us to celebrate that without leaving anyone out and letting everybody in - I Have To Say, (dramatic pause, chomp cigar) I Love It When a Plan Comes Together.
/
SO There You Have It, Hope that Wasn't Too Much of a Waste of Your Time (While Time is always eternally being wasted, it does nothing but mournfully decays you with each breath of oxygen, Rust Never Sleeps et tout) But Now to The Poetry - the main point of interest for my blog, Hope You'll Enjoy it soon
Regardless, You Might Still Enjoy It:
/
Part 5: The Redemption
Wow, that went fast, Transition Year gone WOOP WOOP, Fifth Year now heading towards us like a voluminous dark cloud. YIKEs!
Still, all we can do is wait and prepare for the bitter assault of work that will come at us, this time with extra vigour that it presumably built up during our year-long truce, and what you do most during Fifth Year other than pant-wettingly heavy amounts of Leaving Cert preparation is looking back and thinking about how awesome Transition Year was. So why not get to the point and purpose of this entire blog and write about the swan song (I almost wrote "swang" there but I thought that I should try and resist having abbreviations and conjunctions take over our world) that was Actiontrack.
Well for those who are reading this and hadn't seen the one and only production of JAWS: The Musical and are seemingly begging me to go in to encyclopaedic detail of the production and plot: tough luck, blogee, you're just going to have to let that slide past you like this year's Glastonbury - all you're going to get is my hazy summary of events.
It overall was an incredibly busy week. I remember at the start thinking we'd be doing ZIP ZAP BOING! each morning yet I was oh-so-wrong as the realities of production hit home, and the dizzying amounts of work and the untapped flow of creativity took over. Each break and lunch left us all starving as we gorged ourselves on anything, just anything to give us enough energy for the next dance rehearsal. To be honest, during the whole week my kidneys were painful with exhaustion and I couldn't stand for long without needing to sit down and rest my deflated legs. One morning I actually slept through my alarm I was so tired - which doesn’t seem like anything major - we all do it eventually – but my alarm isn't a little ringing clock or one of these EXCURCIATINGLY ANNOYING dadadaduh digital ones that slowly build in ear-bleedage until you turn them off. No, my alarm is a speaker-box right next to my pillowed head that blasts out Florence + the Machine each morning - and I still slept through all twenty minutes of it!
Either way despite our tired, creaking mass we still kept going on that last day, which involved putting the entire set design together, sound and video checks, setting up the seating rows, learning new dance steps, prepping our costumes and fitting in a whole dress rehearsal while the bustling queue outside tried to drown out our howlings of 'The Head, The Tail, And The Whole Damn Thing'.
As the lights went down and we scampered back into our 'green room' only to scurry back to clear out and take apart our week's work - tears stained faces as the end had rolled over and left us, not just the end of the show, but for some their whole time here in the school. It was rejuvenating and saddening as we tore down our papier maché and willow sharks, but for some it was a metaphor, the ridding of the ephemeral, taking down what was never meant to last.
A special extra big jazz handed Thank You must go to the Actiontrack team - who tried to stay oh-so-modest behind their instruments and amongst the crowd and criminally never stood up to take their long overdue and deserved bow at the end. So I might as well try to ruin your anonymity by thanking Nick, the Hannibal of the Actiontrack team, who was able to siphon our creative flow into something of the calibre as the final show; Nate, if we were to still go by A-Team logic would be Howlin' Mad Murdoch, who pieced together what a bunch of kids caught on a sound recorder and turned it in to one effective and unnerving soundscape and also taught me the revelation of Power Chords; Katie who let everyone relive the ART ATTACK! phase of their childhood by making excellent set dressings in the form of giant hanging legs or dead tiger sharks; and to Molly whose cheesy dance moves were another highlight of the show, and who also taught us something we will never forget - that the "Shake Your Tail Feather" move originates from the original Hairspray.
So to cap this all off - hmm what to say - I’ve got nothing planned - I have to have something, every other post had some kind of simple, self-referential, expectant poetry to it - Hope It Won't Stink et all - I can't be expectant now unless I end on a downer mentioning Fifth year, but now that's not right - think of something; what would Nick say; he'd always have something planned, Like Hannibal - wait that's it!
(*cough*-clear throat-*cough* deep breath in, look up, jut out jaw, do an Eastwood Squint)
Actiontrack was all about taking the different frayed ends of our imaginations and piecing them together and weaving it in to something that can be presented and get across the true overwhelming freedom Transition Year brought us, and despite it's freeform nature, it had planned to bring all fifty of us together and just make a show for us to celebrate that without leaving anyone out and letting everybody in - I Have To Say, (dramatic pause, chomp cigar) I Love It When a Plan Comes Together.
/
SO There You Have It, Hope that Wasn't Too Much of a Waste of Your Time (While Time is always eternally being wasted, it does nothing but mournfully decays you with each breath of oxygen, Rust Never Sleeps et tout) But Now to The Poetry - the main point of interest for my blog, Hope You'll Enjoy it soon
ACTIONTRACKED: The Nutty Serial That Won't Get Stuck In Yo' Teeth
This was the Pinnacle of the Bunch in my mind - and it also used my ACTIONTRACKED.. title in FULL which is always a good sign
/
Part 4: The Revenge
Captain's Log*: As I’m writing this it's only 20 hours left until the lights shine down on the valiant galleon of our SS Actiontrack as she docks into the Harbour (Nautical Puns *sigh*). Although there are pre-show nerves we have little reason to worry as today was one of the most productive days so far.
Already our soundscapes and set decorations are nearly complete and have been worked into rehearsals, dance moves are nearly all learned, with each break seemingly producing a new step for us to try and awkwardly recreate, some easy ('From Cape Scott to South Beach' is a rare opportunity in our lives to do some of the most clichéd arm waverings from the Boyzone catalogue) some oh-my-legs-why-do-you-spasm-so? ('We Need Your Summer Dollars' is a mad meld of square dancing and some classic Madness shapes from the Our House video). The animation and mini-movies are now completed and the BSR has taken a radical change as we have literally scattered about it bits of jetties, amps and staging - even an upturned boat whose position has rather safely blocked off the main fire exit - no worries then.
Although on a non-life threatening note our progress has even allowed us to do a full run through - even with a big supporting role having to drop out and be replaced by an entirely different originally-care-free-but-now-cacking-it-with-all-the-lines-to-be-a-learnt pupil. Just watching in the back there's already a noticeable fluidity to the musical which is ruddery (a rudder is what steers a sail boat - sufficient Nautical Pun), important for our home made production to gain any kind of composure.
The overall vibes for those of you readers lucky enough (or unfortunate enough if you're one of those disillusioned parents who's sat through 10 years worth of school plays to see their kid papier-machéd as a tree while the kid who gets drama lesson practises his audition for Julliard) to be going to our show tonight, take note - the best way to describe an Actiontrack performance would be either to reference the production values and structure of The Mighty Boosh or to say it's a Give It Your All And See What Sticks kind of show. That’s not to say it's ramshackle or immature but that in the short period of time we've been working on this, we have pushed ourselves full on, to urge the hull forward.
Those soundscapes are composed of our screams (that's actually true - thank Angus for the Deafening Alto Yelp). That wrecked boat is painted with our blood. Those papier-machéd legs were made from our sweat. Those barrels are weighted with our tears.
Hopefully Everything Won't Stink.
* A Teacher suggested I say that: Surpirsingly, I've never watched a full episode of any Star Trek
/
I'm Sorry about those Nautical Puns - You can see I REALLY begin to regret them there (It's so Uninspired Journalist - it almost hurts) but Hope You still feel like going (or even laugh) at them, still one more of these than perhaps a dollop of swanny poetry?
/
Part 4: The Revenge
Captain's Log*: As I’m writing this it's only 20 hours left until the lights shine down on the valiant galleon of our SS Actiontrack as she docks into the Harbour (Nautical Puns *sigh*). Although there are pre-show nerves we have little reason to worry as today was one of the most productive days so far.
Already our soundscapes and set decorations are nearly complete and have been worked into rehearsals, dance moves are nearly all learned, with each break seemingly producing a new step for us to try and awkwardly recreate, some easy ('From Cape Scott to South Beach' is a rare opportunity in our lives to do some of the most clichéd arm waverings from the Boyzone catalogue) some oh-my-legs-why-do-you-spasm-so? ('We Need Your Summer Dollars' is a mad meld of square dancing and some classic Madness shapes from the Our House video). The animation and mini-movies are now completed and the BSR has taken a radical change as we have literally scattered about it bits of jetties, amps and staging - even an upturned boat whose position has rather safely blocked off the main fire exit - no worries then.
Although on a non-life threatening note our progress has even allowed us to do a full run through - even with a big supporting role having to drop out and be replaced by an entirely different originally-care-free-but-now-cacking-it-with-all-the-lines-to-be-a-learnt pupil. Just watching in the back there's already a noticeable fluidity to the musical which is ruddery (a rudder is what steers a sail boat - sufficient Nautical Pun), important for our home made production to gain any kind of composure.
The overall vibes for those of you readers lucky enough (or unfortunate enough if you're one of those disillusioned parents who's sat through 10 years worth of school plays to see their kid papier-machéd as a tree while the kid who gets drama lesson practises his audition for Julliard) to be going to our show tonight, take note - the best way to describe an Actiontrack performance would be either to reference the production values and structure of The Mighty Boosh or to say it's a Give It Your All And See What Sticks kind of show. That’s not to say it's ramshackle or immature but that in the short period of time we've been working on this, we have pushed ourselves full on, to urge the hull forward.
Those soundscapes are composed of our screams (that's actually true - thank Angus for the Deafening Alto Yelp). That wrecked boat is painted with our blood. Those papier-machéd legs were made from our sweat. Those barrels are weighted with our tears.
Hopefully Everything Won't Stink.
* A Teacher suggested I say that: Surpirsingly, I've never watched a full episode of any Star Trek
/
I'm Sorry about those Nautical Puns - You can see I REALLY begin to regret them there (It's so Uninspired Journalist - it almost hurts) but Hope You still feel like going (or even laugh) at them, still one more of these than perhaps a dollop of swanny poetry?
ACTIONTRACKED: The Nutty Serial That Won't Get Stuck In Yo' Teeth
Ah - I Labelled this Part 3: in 3D, in the style of the JAWS sequels, but the English dudes didn't get it again, still they do my ever developing blogs justice in other areas that don't involve Spurious Intertextuality (yes that's a real term)
Again, Enjoy:
/
Yesterday I mentioned that today things would really start to set sail (again - necessary nautical pun) but we've not only set sail but are now hitting 40 knots and ramping tides. After a quick run-through of all the songs, our parts were given out - casting has revealed a quirky but fair-to-say-ingenious selection. I won’t reveal a who's who yet, but I can honestly admit to be thrilled with my part and as is everyone else.
The main event today was the chaotic multi-tasking involved in assembling our show. While rehearsals are happening in the BSR, the assembling of our movable sets and decor continues outside, while in the Cadogan, sound-scaping and stop motion film-making trundles on; there are even some lads running around trying to record the perfect sound for a shark biting off someone's leg.
Meanwhile as the production rumbles headlong, our best efforts are demanded to pick up some wind. The responsibility is on us now to learn our lines, lyrics, dance steps and to piece together a lively period costume from whatever bit of old thread we can find.
This evening we were introduced to our sprunky choreography, seemingly fabricated to embracing the best (well really the worst) of 80s dance trends - there's plenty of stomp 'n clap, a bit of Greased Lightning finger-pointing-wave-pumping, even a Hairspray tail feather wiggle; it's a almost a pity there's no room in JAWS for a run through of the Time Warp*.
Even tonight some of the guys are going out at 11 o'clock and using the school pool to film a vignette to tell the story of the USS Indianapolis, not the best of associations for the pool but you can recognise the dedication of our year to Actiontrack when Max sacrifices time to get in a pool and thrash about when he could be sleeping**
*If you do not know what the Time Warp is, you are dead to me, in fact simply typing that has made me YouTube it straight away - it's like a little goblin that's stuck in your head that constantly makes you smile; the thought of people not being aware of the Time Warp seemingly too saddening to imagine (they might not have it in Venezuela - would Rocky Horror fly over there? Nah it might, but would they bother to dub it or would it even have an audience?)
**No offence intended to Max, but come on man - you spent 18 hours sleeping last Saturday, no joke.
/
Are These of Interest in Anyway, Shape or Form?
Again, Enjoy:
/
Yesterday I mentioned that today things would really start to set sail (again - necessary nautical pun) but we've not only set sail but are now hitting 40 knots and ramping tides. After a quick run-through of all the songs, our parts were given out - casting has revealed a quirky but fair-to-say-ingenious selection. I won’t reveal a who's who yet, but I can honestly admit to be thrilled with my part and as is everyone else.
The main event today was the chaotic multi-tasking involved in assembling our show. While rehearsals are happening in the BSR, the assembling of our movable sets and decor continues outside, while in the Cadogan, sound-scaping and stop motion film-making trundles on; there are even some lads running around trying to record the perfect sound for a shark biting off someone's leg.
Meanwhile as the production rumbles headlong, our best efforts are demanded to pick up some wind. The responsibility is on us now to learn our lines, lyrics, dance steps and to piece together a lively period costume from whatever bit of old thread we can find.
This evening we were introduced to our sprunky choreography, seemingly fabricated to embracing the best (well really the worst) of 80s dance trends - there's plenty of stomp 'n clap, a bit of Greased Lightning finger-pointing-wave-pumping, even a Hairspray tail feather wiggle; it's a almost a pity there's no room in JAWS for a run through of the Time Warp*.
Even tonight some of the guys are going out at 11 o'clock and using the school pool to film a vignette to tell the story of the USS Indianapolis, not the best of associations for the pool but you can recognise the dedication of our year to Actiontrack when Max sacrifices time to get in a pool and thrash about when he could be sleeping**
*If you do not know what the Time Warp is, you are dead to me, in fact simply typing that has made me YouTube it straight away - it's like a little goblin that's stuck in your head that constantly makes you smile; the thought of people not being aware of the Time Warp seemingly too saddening to imagine (they might not have it in Venezuela - would Rocky Horror fly over there? Nah it might, but would they bother to dub it or would it even have an audience?)
**No offence intended to Max, but come on man - you spent 18 hours sleeping last Saturday, no joke.
/
Are These of Interest in Anyway, Shape or Form?
ACTIONTRACKED: The Nutty Serial That Won't Get Stuck In Yo' Teeth
Above was the name i suggested to call the blog but it was seemingly rejected/ignored 'cause schools don't get surreal quirk
Alas I Digress, Please Enjoy:
/
WARNING: WHEN WRITING A DAILY BLOG ABOUT THE MAKING OF A MUSICAL BASED ON JAWS, IT'S NOT ONLY ACCEPTED BUT MANDATORY FOR THERE TO BE BARRELS OF UNFUNNY NAUTICAL PUNS - EVEN IF THEY'RE A BIT FISHY -SORRY.
Day Two of our production has been incredibly productive - no more of the obligatory Zip Zap Boing! round to start the day off, as we set off immediately into our Production - JAWS: The Musical.
First up was learning the songs all the Actiontrack team had written last night, which varied from a Green Day-lite acoustic ballad ('From Cape Scott to South Beach'), 80s hued synth pop with a self-aware dollop of Billy Joel ('The Head, The Tail, The Whole Damn Thing') to a tender, harmony-laden duet ('Catching Fish Tonight'). When those songs were all learned we then began to select our scenes and begin the weaving that would thread our narrative.
Already by the evening the script was done and dusted, which is incredibly early for an Actiontrack Show, but our plans for a media collage spectacular is going to be knots of work (knots – lots *stifled cough*), which will take up the rest of our week. Although signs are good on the Good Ship JAWS: The Musical, with the Van unpacked and casting tomorrow, our production will now be full tilt to get its jazz hands in order (Jaws, Jazz hands - Jaws Hands?), with casting, dance, set and sound design all about to begin.
It looks like the sail's beginning to billow as a mighty wind is blowing us starboard.
/
Did You Like The Poetic End There- I occasionally do that and rather like how it seems to come spontaneously - You Don't? Learn to Love it Then
Alas I Digress, Please Enjoy:
/
WARNING: WHEN WRITING A DAILY BLOG ABOUT THE MAKING OF A MUSICAL BASED ON JAWS, IT'S NOT ONLY ACCEPTED BUT MANDATORY FOR THERE TO BE BARRELS OF UNFUNNY NAUTICAL PUNS - EVEN IF THEY'RE A BIT FISHY -SORRY.
Day Two of our production has been incredibly productive - no more of the obligatory Zip Zap Boing! round to start the day off, as we set off immediately into our Production - JAWS: The Musical.
First up was learning the songs all the Actiontrack team had written last night, which varied from a Green Day-lite acoustic ballad ('From Cape Scott to South Beach'), 80s hued synth pop with a self-aware dollop of Billy Joel ('The Head, The Tail, The Whole Damn Thing') to a tender, harmony-laden duet ('Catching Fish Tonight'). When those songs were all learned we then began to select our scenes and begin the weaving that would thread our narrative.
Already by the evening the script was done and dusted, which is incredibly early for an Actiontrack Show, but our plans for a media collage spectacular is going to be knots of work (knots – lots *stifled cough*), which will take up the rest of our week. Although signs are good on the Good Ship JAWS: The Musical, with the Van unpacked and casting tomorrow, our production will now be full tilt to get its jazz hands in order (Jaws, Jazz hands - Jaws Hands?), with casting, dance, set and sound design all about to begin.
It looks like the sail's beginning to billow as a mighty wind is blowing us starboard.
/
Did You Like The Poetic End There- I occasionally do that and rather like how it seems to come spontaneously - You Don't? Learn to Love it Then
Action Track Day One
So Here's The First Post For That English Blog - nothing wrong so far with this even thou it's a tad skim but let's get this on the way - This Blog Needs Variety So I Need To Get Everything Done Fast /
Enjoy:
Today was the first day of Actiontrack Showbuild for Transition Year, which intends for us little varyingly talentless tykes to try to write, star in and dance our way through our own homemade musical to be performed this Saturday, jazz hands and all. It's early days and getting 46 different people to sit down in a huddle and bang out some Gilbert and Sullivan wasn't happening - so we started off with the game ZIP ZAP BOING!, which despite sounding like a 70s New Wave band, is a game where imagination, energy and performance are drawn together in a fun, competitive icebreaker.
As the day went on, it was time for us to group into fours and fives and begin improvising our own little sketches that continue the creative flow, taking different little parts of setting and genre and melding them into one consistent whole. The acting had to end though as we looked at the meaning of genre and its conventions and clichés, and we soon studied Steven Spielberg's Jaws to form a tangent for us to spring off from, and eventually reach some footing on our own musical.
/
So you can notice my kind of written naivety there but I do develop hugely from there so stay with me if you feel like it - Plenty More To Come
Enjoy:
Today was the first day of Actiontrack Showbuild for Transition Year, which intends for us little varyingly talentless tykes to try to write, star in and dance our way through our own homemade musical to be performed this Saturday, jazz hands and all. It's early days and getting 46 different people to sit down in a huddle and bang out some Gilbert and Sullivan wasn't happening - so we started off with the game ZIP ZAP BOING!, which despite sounding like a 70s New Wave band, is a game where imagination, energy and performance are drawn together in a fun, competitive icebreaker.
As the day went on, it was time for us to group into fours and fives and begin improvising our own little sketches that continue the creative flow, taking different little parts of setting and genre and melding them into one consistent whole. The acting had to end though as we looked at the meaning of genre and its conventions and clichés, and we soon studied Steven Spielberg's Jaws to form a tangent for us to spring off from, and eventually reach some footing on our own musical.
/
So you can notice my kind of written naivety there but I do develop hugely from there so stay with me if you feel like it - Plenty More To Come
The Fatness & Action Track
Note to No One /
Even thou it's early days, I'm going to Fatten up this currently skim account with some posts I made for my own school's blog - questionable yes, but that was somewhat the big bang for whatever this blog is going to be, so it makes sense in my head to acknowledge the seedling for Anybody's Anything and allow it to reverberate around this place like a bass on full gain.
Yes - makes sense there but is it too soon to be doing something so - - - sitcom-like, greatest hits style collection? I don’t think so, since no-one read that last blog and this is only a healthy recycling of fair-enough, maybe even good (?) material that no-one read at first /
Well no one reads this blog so what’s the point in doing this again? Oh yeah, to make this blog somewhat substantial and a chance to offer an unedited commentary on my last work.
By the way Action Track is an English production company who help people to write/star and stage their own musical - the school ask me to write a daily blog on the rather surprisingly good experience /
Enjoy this -
Wait shit - did I get the name of my blog wrong? It’s supposed to be from a quote /
Fuck it sounds better like that anyway
Even thou it's early days, I'm going to Fatten up this currently skim account with some posts I made for my own school's blog - questionable yes, but that was somewhat the big bang for whatever this blog is going to be, so it makes sense in my head to acknowledge the seedling for Anybody's Anything and allow it to reverberate around this place like a bass on full gain.
Yes - makes sense there but is it too soon to be doing something so - - - sitcom-like, greatest hits style collection? I don’t think so, since no-one read that last blog and this is only a healthy recycling of fair-enough, maybe even good (?) material that no-one read at first /
Well no one reads this blog so what’s the point in doing this again? Oh yeah, to make this blog somewhat substantial and a chance to offer an unedited commentary on my last work.
By the way Action Track is an English production company who help people to write/star and stage their own musical - the school ask me to write a daily blog on the rather surprisingly good experience /
Enjoy this -
Wait shit - did I get the name of my blog wrong? It’s supposed to be from a quote /
Fuck it sounds better like that anyway
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Mission Statement
Is this to have a MISSION or any kind of END-GOAL in the relative terms of Self Expression?
-No this is a blog you, a Beacon of One Bored Uninspired Pedestrial Energy to find another in a Glow of Semi-Intellectual Rantings. I Like Writing, Always Have. I'm Taking this seemingly as a Challenge or even a Propping Up of Getting to Know One's Limitations /
This is a Way for Me to Find Where I Fail
Enjoy the Show /
X THE X: There isn’t just my wavering written flow but I intend to throw in smidgens of my own poetry, favourite movies, music, art and all that fits in-between, then kaleid it all together like different strokes of paint /
This Can Be Fun – I’ll try and keep it up
-No this is a blog you, a Beacon of One Bored Uninspired Pedestrial Energy to find another in a Glow of Semi-Intellectual Rantings. I Like Writing, Always Have. I'm Taking this seemingly as a Challenge or even a Propping Up of Getting to Know One's Limitations /
This is a Way for Me to Find Where I Fail
Enjoy the Show /
X THE X: There isn’t just my wavering written flow but I intend to throw in smidgens of my own poetry, favourite movies, music, art and all that fits in-between, then kaleid it all together like different strokes of paint /
This Can Be Fun – I’ll try and keep it up
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