Everyone is doing the 25 things thang, so I thought I'd join in. 25 things about me. If you are tagged, you are supposed to write 25 things about you. Simple!
1. I am a dreamer, my dreams have changed recently though. I don't want to rule the world, I just want a nice house to grow old(er) in and a nice garden to grow vegetables in.
2. I am completely head over heals in love with my husband, it just took me a while to realise it. He gives everything in my life meaning. Even washing up is bearable if he is in the kitchen. I smile when I hear his key in the door. I love him bringing the guardian crossword home for me to have a go at, even though that is terribly married/ grown up/middle class. I love my life with him, because of him... and I don't care what people's reactions are to this soppiness!!
3. This is my life's to do list in no particular order:
Dive somewhere beautiful
make a pot
play ice hockey
learn to rollerskate
go gliding
fly solo
have acrobatics flight
go to peru
go to India
learn spanish
keep chickens
get dreadlocks
do a triathalon
be a mum
knit something useful
understand basic electronics
service a nice watch for Andy
London to brighton
learn an instrument
get somewhere with the museum
4. Writing is my love. If I could do any job in the world, it would be to write comedy full time. Or fighter pilot. Or ice hockey player. No, red bull air race pilot... no underwater photographer. Definately underwater photograper.
5. My sitcom The Museum is being performed on stage in the Leicester Square theatre in a few weeks. I'm super excited.
6. Sometimes I think I'm brilliant at my job and I get really annoyed at my pay, and think I'll pack it in and go and get a much better job at an oil company. Other times, I want to curl under my desk and hide there until the last person goes, all the lights go off and I am safe and alone.
7. I have ME/CFS. This means I get tired easily and I can't exercise because it can make me really ill for weeks. Most of the time my head feels like it's full of cotton wool and my sinuses and muscles ache. Imagine how you feel when you are getting flu but it hasn't quite developed. That's me most of the time. It also affects my sleep patterns, my concentraion, my tolerence to alcohol & caffine and my moods. It's a very hard thing to live with, which is why I get SUPER PISSED OFF when people think it's made up, or that I just need to pull myself together.
8. I once ran the Snowdonia marathon. It took me over 5 hours, but I loved it. I've also ran the great north run, the Georgetown to Idaho Springs half and various other shorter races. I don't run at the moment because of the ME. Which is a shame because the adrenaline rush I get from exercise and crossing the finish line is an amazing feeling. I miss it :(.
9. I only learned how to cycle last year, and promptly became a bike geek. I'm going to learn to swim properly then do a beginners' triathalon up in Scotland. Hopefully in 2012 to coincide with olympic year! It's very hard for me to train though, obviously..
10. I find the taste of rocket and corriander to be extremly exciting.
11. I am rubbish at keeping in touch with friends, partly because I find telephones terrifying.
12. I love margaritas and tex-mex food. I'd really like to go to Houston for 6 months and get fat on quesadilla and jose cuervo. Then I'd go to our Denver office and get thin on fresh air and good views. Then I'd go to our Trinidad office and get a tan, and head back to Egham brown and thin :).
13. One of my favorite things is laughing until my face hurts and my tear ducts keep squeezing. Something that did this to me was when I mixed Zombie Nation by Kerncraft with the Monty Python Spam sketch. I can't really explain why.
14. My hobbies include yoga, cycling, running, knitting, pocket watch repair, claymation, poi spinning, reading... well, pretty much everything ever invented. I'd rather be a jack of all trades.
15. I wish I could speak a second language. One doesn't seem like enough.
16. I wish I could play an instrument. Properly. Banging out smoke on the water doesn't really count.
17. I am mentally a child, but I'm happy with that. I love the thrill of discovering new things, and hope I always feel like that.
18. I didn't go the pub for months when I lived in Southampton because the thought of walking into a room full of people terrified me.
19. I miss my life in Wyoming. I miss working short days, writing lots, and spending weekends camping and skiing and diving. I'm sad that paying the bills involves spending all your energy pushing a mouse around. I hate being a grown up. But I'm grown up enough to accept that if I want to have a house and food it's something I have to do.
20. I don't like it when I moan. I'm trying to be more the sort of person who deals with things or shuts up about them.
21. I still have a phobia of plant roots.
22. I was once sick from drinking and dropped my wallet in it. Kate tells everyone she meets this story, which ensures that even if I was president of the UN or the next noel fileding or queen of england, I'd still be the girl who dropped her wallet in sick.
23. I think a life without music would be hell.
24. My husband thinks I'm a hippy. I'm not. Poi+joss sticks != hippy.
25. I am utterly, utterly useless at maths, physics and hard thinking in general. Can I have a job please, mr oil company exec?
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Saturday, September 13, 2008
Friday, September 05, 2008
The Sitcom Trials
The 16 winners have been chosen and informed... which means I can't be one of them. I'm absolutely gutted. With feedback like this:
Loved it. Thank you.
and this
Re: The Museum.
I really love your dialogue, I think it's original and inventive. I feel though that you're shooting yourself in the foot by limiting yourself to only 2 performers and was aching for you to bring some more characters onstage. You create wonderful characters; let's see 5 or 6 of them onstage at the same time. The more characters, the more scope for conflict, surely? And the more conflict, the more comedy.
Please don't be offended by this, I'm writing it because what you've given us so far made me laugh out loud (and ploughing through 300 scripts that's been a rare, rare thing). I just think you've got more in you. TV sitcoms tend to have a core of 5 or 6 recurring characters. Let's see yours all at once.
Simon
for
Every 1's a Critic
I don't think it was unreasonable of me to think I had a really good chance. I know my stuff is good, I know I can get somewhere with it... but not this way. I'm going to have a rewrite and enter some more things... but first I need to give myself time to feel gutted and shocked. Well, actually I only have about 10 more mins to do that because I have to go back to work. I feel like sitting in the rain and crying. I know I'm taking this way harder than I should be, but I am just bitterly dissapointed. Maybe after looking at houses and cycling and shopping and all the million and one things I have to do this weekend I can get back on the horse and get writing again.
Loved it. Thank you.
and this
Re: The Museum.
I really love your dialogue, I think it's original and inventive. I feel though that you're shooting yourself in the foot by limiting yourself to only 2 performers and was aching for you to bring some more characters onstage. You create wonderful characters; let's see 5 or 6 of them onstage at the same time. The more characters, the more scope for conflict, surely? And the more conflict, the more comedy.
Please don't be offended by this, I'm writing it because what you've given us so far made me laugh out loud (and ploughing through 300 scripts that's been a rare, rare thing). I just think you've got more in you. TV sitcoms tend to have a core of 5 or 6 recurring characters. Let's see yours all at once.
Simon
for
Every 1's a Critic
I don't think it was unreasonable of me to think I had a really good chance. I know my stuff is good, I know I can get somewhere with it... but not this way. I'm going to have a rewrite and enter some more things... but first I need to give myself time to feel gutted and shocked. Well, actually I only have about 10 more mins to do that because I have to go back to work. I feel like sitting in the rain and crying. I know I'm taking this way harder than I should be, but I am just bitterly dissapointed. Maybe after looking at houses and cycling and shopping and all the million and one things I have to do this weekend I can get back on the horse and get writing again.
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
waiting, waiting, waiting...
..until the producer has time to get back to me... until any of my friends have time to give me feedback... until Friday when it's the deadline and I'll finally know if I've got in. I hate waiting. I also hate disappointment, I really thought Bex and I had a chance with the last comp we entered, but we didn't get anywhere. I feel a lot more strongly about this one, partly because of the producer's feedback, but also because I have such a huge emotional involvement in The Museum. I've started talking about it as though it's a real place and the characters are real people.
It's hard with this, or any of my other comic ventures, to get feedback from friends. People are too busy with the real world to spend time in my fantasy one. It does make me sad though. But then people like my husband or my dad take the time to get involved and show they understand how much this means to me, and that really helps.
I might get in, I might not. I'll be crushed if I don't... but maybe that will give me the impetus to try and get my scripts out there to production companies myself. It's not over yet, it's hardly even begun.
It's hard with this, or any of my other comic ventures, to get feedback from friends. People are too busy with the real world to spend time in my fantasy one. It does make me sad though. But then people like my husband or my dad take the time to get involved and show they understand how much this means to me, and that really helps.
I might get in, I might not. I'll be crushed if I don't... but maybe that will give me the impetus to try and get my scripts out there to production companies myself. It's not over yet, it's hardly even begun.
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Almost a year..
Hello!
Well it's been almost a year since I posted, but that doesn't mean that nothing has been happening..
Some of the things I learned since my last post: how to fly (a bit), how to ride a bike, how to spin poi badly, that geophysics is ok really, that being a grown up is hard, that friends are worth the effort, how to be happily married, how to make kartofflegratin, how to be nice to people and accet that they aren't like me, how to stay relaxed, how to cope with illness, how to do downward facing dog and most importantly how to go with the flow.
I am now living in Egham in a real house. It has walls and everything. The job is going ok, I've learned a lot, although apparently my lack of passion lets me down....
...so onto something I am passionate about. Comedy:
The Museum. I think I have a good chance of getting a place in this competition. I just have to make something good brilliant. In 6 days. It's very, very hard to write a good 15 min script. You have to develop characters people actually care about, set up some conflict and resolve it... and make it funny. It's a big ask. But I'm so excited about the prospect. I'm trying not to get my hopes up but I'm going to be crushed if I don't get in.
Sometimes I don't think about The Museum for a few weeks, then I'll hear Rocket Man and start grinning like an idiot. I love my Rocket Man ending!
The Deviant Attack. This is a sketch project I've been working on with Bex Moran, after she contacted me through chortle. We have some good stuff, and you can eve get us in the iStore... swish! Have a look here.
Can't hang around... I've got a script to edit. Must put the kettle on...
Well it's been almost a year since I posted, but that doesn't mean that nothing has been happening..
Some of the things I learned since my last post: how to fly (a bit), how to ride a bike, how to spin poi badly, that geophysics is ok really, that being a grown up is hard, that friends are worth the effort, how to be happily married, how to make kartofflegratin, how to be nice to people and accet that they aren't like me, how to stay relaxed, how to cope with illness, how to do downward facing dog and most importantly how to go with the flow.
I am now living in Egham in a real house. It has walls and everything. The job is going ok, I've learned a lot, although apparently my lack of passion lets me down....
...so onto something I am passionate about. Comedy:
The Museum. I think I have a good chance of getting a place in this competition. I just have to make something good brilliant. In 6 days. It's very, very hard to write a good 15 min script. You have to develop characters people actually care about, set up some conflict and resolve it... and make it funny. It's a big ask. But I'm so excited about the prospect. I'm trying not to get my hopes up but I'm going to be crushed if I don't get in.
Sometimes I don't think about The Museum for a few weeks, then I'll hear Rocket Man and start grinning like an idiot. I love my Rocket Man ending!
The Deviant Attack. This is a sketch project I've been working on with Bex Moran, after she contacted me through chortle. We have some good stuff, and you can eve get us in the iStore... swish! Have a look here.
Can't hang around... I've got a script to edit. Must put the kettle on...
Saturday, October 06, 2007
father time, put down your scythe.
On the way home from egham I chose to voluntarily listen to the bbc orchestra playing a medley of gilbert o'sullivan hits rather than the essential session on radio one because the mindless dance music was boring the shit out of me. I even found myself singing along.
ffs, what happened to me? :P
I'm happy though. My brief comedy experience has given me massive highs and lows, from being crushed with embarassement and crying to singing to the traffic and shouting yes. Adrenalin, after glow, fear and doubt. Massive highs and lows. That's what comedy is all about, fuck it.. that's what LIFE is about. When you feel joy and pain to that extent you really know you are alive.
You have to keep pushing yourself and challenging yourself and doing things that are a little scary. I hope I have a lifetime of new experiences and joy ahead of me, stuff to share with my hubby, but if I died tomorrow I'd have no regrets, I'd just be pissed off... I've done some cool stuff :).
I'm off to Houston to learn about wiggles. And to see my hubby, dive in a tank full of sharks, fly a plane, watch an ice hockey match, drive on the wrong side of the road, see some old friends, visit new orleans, make some new friends, eat steak and drink a few beers. After living out of a suitcase in a tent smaller than my unfeasibly small car I think it will be a blast.
ffs, what happened to me? :P
I'm happy though. My brief comedy experience has given me massive highs and lows, from being crushed with embarassement and crying to singing to the traffic and shouting yes. Adrenalin, after glow, fear and doubt. Massive highs and lows. That's what comedy is all about, fuck it.. that's what LIFE is about. When you feel joy and pain to that extent you really know you are alive.
You have to keep pushing yourself and challenging yourself and doing things that are a little scary. I hope I have a lifetime of new experiences and joy ahead of me, stuff to share with my hubby, but if I died tomorrow I'd have no regrets, I'd just be pissed off... I've done some cool stuff :).
I'm off to Houston to learn about wiggles. And to see my hubby, dive in a tank full of sharks, fly a plane, watch an ice hockey match, drive on the wrong side of the road, see some old friends, visit new orleans, make some new friends, eat steak and drink a few beers. After living out of a suitcase in a tent smaller than my unfeasibly small car I think it will be a blast.
Thursday, August 30, 2007
duck...
...real life is fast approaching and it's going to hurt. I have to go to bed, I'm exhausted, but 'blog' is on my to-do list and it must be obeyed.
I start my new job on monday, so that's me with a desk, computer, blouse that makes me look like a square slab of womaliness and a slightly glazed expression. Well, I have to work. How else am I going to pay 40 quid a night for a b&b. 40 quid!!! In Staines of all places, a place whose name makes everyone shudder in disgust. Actually, I've packed the tent. I might camp for a week or two and save myself a few hundred quid.
I miss Andy. It's a little depressing to get married and then have no idea when you will next see your other half, but I suppose some would argue it's a recipe for a happy marriage.
I did my first stand up gig. Five mins of stomach scraping horror. I think it actually went reasonably well. Oh if only someone would pay me to do it... I might internally hemorrhage, but I'd be happy.
Sorry, this is coming out really dull. I'm off to sleep on the futon with the cat hairs for the last time in the foreseeable future :(
nighty night x
I start my new job on monday, so that's me with a desk, computer, blouse that makes me look like a square slab of womaliness and a slightly glazed expression. Well, I have to work. How else am I going to pay 40 quid a night for a b&b. 40 quid!!! In Staines of all places, a place whose name makes everyone shudder in disgust. Actually, I've packed the tent. I might camp for a week or two and save myself a few hundred quid.
I miss Andy. It's a little depressing to get married and then have no idea when you will next see your other half, but I suppose some would argue it's a recipe for a happy marriage.
I did my first stand up gig. Five mins of stomach scraping horror. I think it actually went reasonably well. Oh if only someone would pay me to do it... I might internally hemorrhage, but I'd be happy.
Sorry, this is coming out really dull. I'm off to sleep on the futon with the cat hairs for the last time in the foreseeable future :(
nighty night x
Monday, August 13, 2007
what no Elvis?
I have very little time, and I have a scab of orange bean juice on my foot.
There were no Elvises in Vegas. Not a single bloody one. It spoiled my hastily devised and ludicrously complicated Elvis spotting game somewhat. There was a happy wife and nice husband who made her dream to fly in a helicopter come true though. To the grand canyon, get in :).
We had a great time, despite andy loosing his very expensive sunglasses, throwing his camera off a rollercoaster and then loosing his keys, nesscesating a hire car and tedious denver-laramie-denver-laramie road trip.
I have a million things to do, then I'm leaving the US to possibly live husbandless in a tent. It's all a little scary. At least I've finished reading Harry Potter and can get on with the laundry. It was mostly good, if almost identical to the three I've read already in no particular order.
I almost forgot... I was sworn in as a Junior Ranger at Grand Canyon national park. I'm now a scorpion ranger (ages 11 up) so I'll come down on you like a mighty fist brandishing my plastic rangers' badge if you drop litter.
Have to go, the laundry is done and the bean juice is itching my foot. x
There were no Elvises in Vegas. Not a single bloody one. It spoiled my hastily devised and ludicrously complicated Elvis spotting game somewhat. There was a happy wife and nice husband who made her dream to fly in a helicopter come true though. To the grand canyon, get in :).
We had a great time, despite andy loosing his very expensive sunglasses, throwing his camera off a rollercoaster and then loosing his keys, nesscesating a hire car and tedious denver-laramie-denver-laramie road trip.
I have a million things to do, then I'm leaving the US to possibly live husbandless in a tent. It's all a little scary. At least I've finished reading Harry Potter and can get on with the laundry. It was mostly good, if almost identical to the three I've read already in no particular order.
I almost forgot... I was sworn in as a Junior Ranger at Grand Canyon national park. I'm now a scorpion ranger (ages 11 up) so I'll come down on you like a mighty fist brandishing my plastic rangers' badge if you drop litter.
Have to go, the laundry is done and the bean juice is itching my foot. x
Saturday, July 28, 2007
Monday, July 02, 2007
introducing socklobster
you'll be seeing a lot more of him. Andy is mostly to blame :)
Andy is a spoilsport. He won't let me set up a production company using any of the following names:
A pair of bullocks
hairy bullocks
the dog's bullocks
etc, etc
Maybe I'll go with the dog's, or socklobster in honour of my new stripy friend.
Thursday, June 14, 2007
rory
I can't believe Rory has been dead 12 years, I can remember the day like it was yesterday. I suppose it must have been a while, since it was just before my GCSEs! My English GCSE to be precise.
I wish he knew how much of an impact he was still having on the world so long after his death.
One day, The Museum will be broadcast, and hopefully a few more people will be aware of his legend because of it. That will be my little tribute to him.
xxC
I wish he knew how much of an impact he was still having on the world so long after his death.
One day, The Museum will be broadcast, and hopefully a few more people will be aware of his legend because of it. That will be my little tribute to him.
xxC
Sunday, June 10, 2007
Monday, June 04, 2007
I am
I am ecstatic, jumping around to smells like teen spirit,
I am a child with wrinkles and commitments.
I am scared of the future,
I am relishing change.
I am drenched in rain and dried by the sun.
I am a dreamer with a desire to capture those dreams in resin and make them permanent
I am and I am going to Be.
I am a child with wrinkles and commitments.
I am scared of the future,
I am relishing change.
I am drenched in rain and dried by the sun.
I am a dreamer with a desire to capture those dreams in resin and make them permanent
I am and I am going to Be.
Thursday, May 31, 2007
newsiness and nerdiness
Museum news: ep 5 is currently being written. I have to churn 5 & 6 out before I run out of weird steam. I have painfully balanced my accounts and reckon I can just about stretch to getting the audio interface I want, so it's game on for recording. As always, get in touch if you want to be a voice. You probably don't, does anyone give a shit about this project other than me? Why should you, after all?
Sorry, I'm a little melancholy because of...
Work news: ughhh... roll on September and the new job.
..and apparently I'm a nerd
I disagree, I'm just a vaguely technology-savvy mac-geek, surely?
:)
Sorry, I'm a little melancholy because of...
Work news: ughhh... roll on September and the new job.
..and apparently I'm a nerd
I disagree, I'm just a vaguely technology-savvy mac-geek, surely?
:)
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Long weekend...
I had a nice weekend, even if I did spend some of saturday confirming that I'm the worst diver in history. I spent a while beached in the shallows splashing pathetically cos I'm not strong enough to stand unaided with all the bloody lead I have to wear. I make sure to keep my reg handy in case I fall face down. Otherwise I'd be like on of those tragic souls that drowns in a bowl of soup.
It was worth the effort, we saw some interesting moss. I think it was red, but Andy swears it was green. Who needs the Carribean?
I had a dress fitting too. My dress looks nice, apart from the lumpy body bits that get extruded from it. It's quite understated, and it looked even more so compared to the bridezilla who was having her fitting next to me. I've never seen such a blingy dress before, it was covered in rhinestones. I think having the sleeves attached to the middle finger like madonna circa 1984 was a nice touch. I'm such a bitch- she was probably looking at my dress thinking 'how plain and boring.'
Monday was the bolderboulder 10k, and I actually enjoyed it this year. I pushed myself hard, but not so hard I wanted to puke from 4k onwards. I was 4 mins slower than last year, but with a 6 month lay off from training I'm more than happy with that. Andy did really well and was 2 mins faster than last year, but I think I enjoyed the entertainments more. There were all sorts of bands and crazy people out there supporting us. There were over 50,000 runners this year, yet the organisation is exceptional- by far the best of any of the mass participation races I've done r watched on the telly.
The course isn't too bad, it's uphill at first. After 3 miles, the course takes a turn downhill as did the quality of the belly dancers. Gone were the nubile young woman and in there place some gyrating grannies. It was eye punishment. Serious.
It was worth the effort, we saw some interesting moss. I think it was red, but Andy swears it was green. Who needs the Carribean?
I had a dress fitting too. My dress looks nice, apart from the lumpy body bits that get extruded from it. It's quite understated, and it looked even more so compared to the bridezilla who was having her fitting next to me. I've never seen such a blingy dress before, it was covered in rhinestones. I think having the sleeves attached to the middle finger like madonna circa 1984 was a nice touch. I'm such a bitch- she was probably looking at my dress thinking 'how plain and boring.'
Monday was the bolderboulder 10k, and I actually enjoyed it this year. I pushed myself hard, but not so hard I wanted to puke from 4k onwards. I was 4 mins slower than last year, but with a 6 month lay off from training I'm more than happy with that. Andy did really well and was 2 mins faster than last year, but I think I enjoyed the entertainments more. There were all sorts of bands and crazy people out there supporting us. There were over 50,000 runners this year, yet the organisation is exceptional- by far the best of any of the mass participation races I've done r watched on the telly.
The course isn't too bad, it's uphill at first. After 3 miles, the course takes a turn downhill as did the quality of the belly dancers. Gone were the nubile young woman and in there place some gyrating grannies. It was eye punishment. Serious.
Monday, May 14, 2007
Good News :)
I wrote to Donal Gallagher (Rory's brother) about using Rory's track Unmilitary Two-step in The Museum, and he is fine with it.
His email:
His email:
Hi Christine
Thank you for your message. Glad you would like to use Rory's 'Unmilitary Two-step", there is no problem to use the track and hopefully it will assist in bringing you talents forward to a wider audience.Your site is quite cool.
Lots of luck.
Dónal
I just made a girly noise, something like 'eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee'. I am very pleased.
More good news... 4 episodes are now written. Just two to go! Maybe I'll get this project finished one day. Maybe it'll even end up being broadcast *gasp*!
The plans for standup aren't going so well... I think when I give it a go, people will throw fruit. On the plus side, I'm likely to be very poor so at least I can eat healthily for a few days.
eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee :-)
I just made a girly noise, something like 'eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee'. I am very pleased.
More good news... 4 episodes are now written. Just two to go! Maybe I'll get this project finished one day. Maybe it'll even end up being broadcast *gasp*!
The plans for standup aren't going so well... I think when I give it a go, people will throw fruit. On the plus side, I'm likely to be very poor so at least I can eat healthily for a few days.
eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee :-)
Tuesday, May 01, 2007
Jobs n deep thinking n stuff
GX offered me a job, so I'll officially be a geophysicist come september. You know how it is, us future comic geniuses need to take a day job until we hit the big time. Deluded, me?! Hurrah for my early mid-life crisis :)
My trip to the UK was good, even if it wasn't a trip I made for happy reasons. I saw a lot of friends and family. I also went to Camden and got infected with some wierd disease than made me want to buy clothes and shoes and have a cool haircut. I think I was being brainwashed by hare krishna monks too, I kept inadvertantly giving them money and thus not being able to afford to eat anything other than cadbury's caramels. I also played gay croquet- it was just like normal croquet only bitchier and more brightly coloured.
The writing is going well, it even survived a catastrophic computer faliure. Fate let me reboot the computer one last time and drag off all the stuff I hadn't got around to backing up before it dissolved into a series of epilaptic-goading disco colours.
Sorry about the spelling today, I'm extra dislexic with a side order of dumb pie for some reason. I'll put it down to the wierd dreams I had.
I've been listening to a lot of radio comedy and trying to pull it apart and figure out why it works or doesn't. I was laughing my arse off at The Likely Lads and Dad's Army, but there is a lot of stuff I heard that I'd like to avoid- like obvious set ups (Terry is slagging off Bob's inlaws to a random stranger, who of course turns out to be one of the inlaws) and 'I haven't felt this bad since...' type jokes. What both comedies have taught me is that the characterisation is key to making it work, the setting is secondary (which is a relief since I keep forgetting to make my stuff 'museumy'). Having decent characters who are different and have a unique voice is reactive, like putting baking soda in water. kind of.
I listened to some free stuff on channel4 radio too- the most important lesson I learned there is that repeatedly saying the word tw*t doesn't magically transform something unfunny into a work of genious. Comparing their sketches to something equally wierd yet wonderful, the Boosh, was a revelation. It doesn't matter how wierd something is, if it isn't grounded in plot, character exposition or a complex web of oddness, it just ain't gonna work. This is wot i learnt.
My trip to the UK was good, even if it wasn't a trip I made for happy reasons. I saw a lot of friends and family. I also went to Camden and got infected with some wierd disease than made me want to buy clothes and shoes and have a cool haircut. I think I was being brainwashed by hare krishna monks too, I kept inadvertantly giving them money and thus not being able to afford to eat anything other than cadbury's caramels. I also played gay croquet- it was just like normal croquet only bitchier and more brightly coloured.
The writing is going well, it even survived a catastrophic computer faliure. Fate let me reboot the computer one last time and drag off all the stuff I hadn't got around to backing up before it dissolved into a series of epilaptic-goading disco colours.
Sorry about the spelling today, I'm extra dislexic with a side order of dumb pie for some reason. I'll put it down to the wierd dreams I had.
I've been listening to a lot of radio comedy and trying to pull it apart and figure out why it works or doesn't. I was laughing my arse off at The Likely Lads and Dad's Army, but there is a lot of stuff I heard that I'd like to avoid- like obvious set ups (Terry is slagging off Bob's inlaws to a random stranger, who of course turns out to be one of the inlaws) and 'I haven't felt this bad since...' type jokes. What both comedies have taught me is that the characterisation is key to making it work, the setting is secondary (which is a relief since I keep forgetting to make my stuff 'museumy'). Having decent characters who are different and have a unique voice is reactive, like putting baking soda in water. kind of.
I listened to some free stuff on channel4 radio too- the most important lesson I learned there is that repeatedly saying the word tw*t doesn't magically transform something unfunny into a work of genious. Comparing their sketches to something equally wierd yet wonderful, the Boosh, was a revelation. It doesn't matter how wierd something is, if it isn't grounded in plot, character exposition or a complex web of oddness, it just ain't gonna work. This is wot i learnt.
Thursday, April 26, 2007
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