Because Deep Down I Really Care...

Alrighty, my friend is running some fundraiser on the weekend and has asked me to post the details on my blog. I have, and you are now all expected to read them! HERE THEY ARE:


NO ESCAPE: A joint fundraiser for the Open Rights Group and EUTC’s Edinburgh Fringe production of “Escape” by Matt Wieteska. Live coverage commences at 3pm (BST) on the 24th May: www.mayflowerindustries.co

m

Edinburgh University Theatre Company is proud to announce NO ESCAPE, a fundraiser for its 2009 Edinburgh Fringe Production of Escape by Matt Wieteska. The event is being organised in conjunction with the Open Rights Group, a charitable organisation that aims to protect civil liberties when they are challenged through the incorrect use or regulation of technology.

Escape will open at 10.30pm on the 9th of August at Venue 49: The Bedlam Theatre. The show will then run at 1pm from the 10th - 29th of August, excluding Sundays. Tickets will be priced at £3 on the 9th and then at £6 / £5 conc. for the remainder of the run.

NO ESCAPE will begin at 3pm (BST) on Sunday 24th of May. Members of the production team will be sealed inside hand-made replicas of the escape pods used by the characters in the show. A continuous live feed will broadcast the crew’s resilience in the face of their solitary confinement. Encased in geodesic spheres of four-foot diameter, they will be subjected to twenty-minutes of aural stress-testing every two hours. This will consist of samples chosen by members of the public, ranging from music to white noise. With limited food rations and no distractions or stimulation beyond their own voices, the crew will experience the conditions survived by characters in the show. After a mandatory period of twenty-four hours' confinement, their endurance will be further put to the test as they compete to be the final survivor.

Proceeds will be split between the Open Rights Group and the EUTC’s production costs. Formed in 2005, ORG is a grassroots technology organisation which exists to protect civil liberties wherever they are threatened by the poor implementation and regulation of digital technology. These are our “Digital Rights”. ORG aims to preserve and extend traditional civil liberties in the digital world, and to raise media awareness where these liberties have been abused. Further details can be found at www.openrightsgroup.org , and all press enquiries should be sent to michael@openrightsgroup.org .

The Edinburgh University Theatre Company is a vibrant, student-run non-profit organisation in the heart of Edinburgh. Staging over forty shows every year with an award-winning presence at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, EUTC is committed to excellence in new theatre. Further details are available at www.bedlamtheatre.co.uk . Between September and April, all press enquiries should be sent to marketing@bedlamtheatre.co.uk. During the summer, please contact press@bedlamfringe.co.uk.

To contact the NO ESCAPE team, please email producer@mayflowerindustries.com. For more information about the event or the show, please visit www.mayflowerindustries.com

Beat It - Live?

The Age recently reported that Michael Jackson's album Thriller was voted the number one album of all time. In the article MTV Base presenter presenter Trevor Nelson is quoted as having said: "I don't think there'll ever be another album like it in the history of music...There will never be a marriage of producer and artist, or songwriting and pop sensibility like that again. Due to the way people buy records now, there'll never be an album that sells as many copies."

Now, I have been thinking about that statement for oh, about three minutes now and during this extensive period of meditation I have to wonder, is that necessarily a bad thing? Or more to the point, why is it so significant that there will apparently never be another album to rival Thriller in terms of sales.
Now I'm going to go ahead and say straight up that I know next to nothing about the music business, but looking at "the way people buy records now" and in light of the fact that apparently "there'll never be an album that sells as many copies" I would have to say this is a very healthy thing for the industry.
These days less and less people are buying CDs or records, digital distribution is becoming the new standard, and more specifically, illegal downloads from peer-to-peer clients like Limewire and Bittorrent are almost more common that legally purchased music.

The way I see it, a decrease in CD sales should result in bands finding most of their income through live performances. If bands realise they aren't going to have a Thriller on their hands every time they enter the recording studio then they have to work on their live shows, right? In this dream world of mine, artists will tour more often which means they will have no choice but to practice more often which will hopefully result in less and less bands pulling a "Panic! At The Disco"; that is to say they won't ONLY sound good on an album (and even then it's a matter of opinion). This will hopefully also result in less mass produced crap finding its way onto the charts; Britney I'm looking at you!


(Not pictured here: Good Music)

Maybe I'm just crazy but it seems, from the tone of the article, that there was a sense of having lost something. That the best has passed now that "there'll never be an album that sells as many copies." But to me it's a good thing. I say less CD sales, more live performances, higher quality performances and more skill involved in performances from now on!

P.S.
Some astute readers may notice that in deciding the greatest album of all time "More than 40,000 votes were cast by fans asked to choose their favourite album since 1981 from a shortlist of 26 LPs." Now call me crazy, but isn't it hard to say that anything is the greatest "all time" anything when it's only looking at such a limited time frame. Also what were the other 26 LPs? Maybe they were really crap like Read Along With Chopper or The Wiggles do Cats: A Disco. Was Thriller simply the diamond in the rough?? YOU DECIDE!

Because chicks like boys who sparkle

Something horrible was presented to me today. Something truly foul. Something so vile, so evil and so unbelievably stupid that my brain still struggles to comprehend it. Allow me to explain.

I was casually chatting to a colleague of mine about nothing much in particular, when all of a sudden she linked me to a certain post on a website called FMyLife. Now I would like to point out - using the awesome power of the caps lock button - some of the problems I have with this post. This girl dumped her boyfriend because she wanted someone "MORE LIKE HER 'EDWARD'". Now to be honest, so far so good. Nothing wrong with a sweet young thing wanting a little more Ed in her life; I can get behind that. (The astute readers may already know where I am going with this). The problem arises when, upon asking what the fuck she meant by "her Edward", she proceeded to hold "UP A COPY OF HER 'TWILIGHT' BOOK".

Now let's forget for a minute that she wants to give up her real life boyfriend for someone who is more like a fictional character. What she's really saying is that she is dumping someone I am going to assume is the very epitome of manliness, for an androgynous, possibly homosexual boy who, rumour has it, hasn't even washed his fucking hair (and I mean in forever!)















She's going to give up him...
















...for him!?

has the world gone topsy turvy

'Cause Everyone Else Got To

This may be getting a little "old hat" to discuss on the intertubes but really, it's just too good to leave alone. Some of you may be aware of a certain interview held not long ago between David Letterman and Joaquin Phoenix. For those of you who aren't, don't worry, the rest of us will wait for you...

You with us now? Ok let's proceed.
The above clip has been making the rounds on the web and sparked up some serious debates ranging from Phoenix's mental health to whether or not he's hiding his drugs in his new beard. Either way it appears the Academy Award nominated actor has decided to call it quits and focus his energies on a burgeoning hip hop career. The star of the silver screen is apparently adamant that the transition is serious, and not at all a hoax. However, at the same time all this is happening, his friend, Casey Affleck is in the background filming everything for an "Untitled Joaquin Phoenix Documentary" slated to hit cinemas in 2010. This information has lead many to believe that this is all part of an "Untitled Joaquin Phoenix Mockumentary" that may, or may not, be being filmed my Casey Affleck and may, or many not be slated for release in 2010. See where I'm going here? Even Christopher Guest must be impressed.

It's all a little too fantastical for me to believe that an actor of Joaquin's calibur would simply give up on his career in order to try his hand at rapping. And if he is serious, someone should really tell him he's going the wrong way about it. Trying to get from Johnny Cash to Tupac via ZZ Top just doesn't work.

+ /

= ?

See? It just doesn't work. Anywho, from a marketing/hype perspective this is pure genius. If the mockumentary is real then the massive storm of "crazy" that Joaquin is raining down on the press has to be good for opening weekend sales. However, if it's not a hoax, if Phoenix is entirely legit, then it's just plain sad to see a once very animated and charismatic star being reduced to the mumbling, disoriented mess that he was on Letterman.
Regardless of what happens in the next year or so, let's just pray that Joaquin's music career - however fake it may be - doesn't turn out the way Crispin "Creepy Thin Man" Glover's foray into the medium did.

In The Beginning When There Was Nothing

Ok welcome one and everyone (which at this stage is no one) to my humble Web Log.
Essentially I aim for this to be a place where I can practice writing whatever I feel like with the aim of impoving my craft, even if only by a small amount. This blog will primarily focus on pop culture news and reviews etc. but may also feature the odd creative piece here or there, but don't worry, there won't be too much of that. Anywho, I hope whoever it is that actually ends up reading this will enjoy whatever it is I'm doing and spread the word to all and sundry!

Enjoy!