Yesterday I spent a day at MagicCon, a fantasy / mystery TV / Movie fan convention. I’m not a fantasy / mystery fan and honestly not much into any kind of TV shows these day either but I was interested in two of the main guests – Richard Armitage and Elijah Wood.
Richard ArmitageElijah Wood
I used the time during the autographs / photo session to get a late lunch somewhere and have a stroll through the river park, before I got back to the convention centre for the final three panels. Unfortunately most of my photos didn’t turn out as well as I had hoped. Still so much to learn about how to use my camera in not ideal lighting. I definitely do better with inanimate objects like buildings and landscape.Â
The time at the convention made me ponder fandom in general and how I have been a fan-type all my life. But also how I have been a different type of fan in different fandoms and also in the different stages of my life. I started putting all those thoughts into a post, but it needs more work and I won’t manage to finish it today. I still wanted to share some photos from yesterday.
It’s odd to find myself emerging from a bit of slump – emotionally, mentally – and just then realizing that I have been in such slump, isn’t it? To me it is. The last few weeks – ever since I came back from vacation – have been super busy at work and other stuff so I’ve been glad about a public holiday yesterday and also glad that I took today off as well.
Earlier this week for a moment I had considered using yesterday’s public holiday to do the next part of my “One Foot Before the Other Pilgrimage”, but decided against it and opted for a lazy, relaxing day at home. Which absolutely was the right choice. I won’t bore you with more of the introspection and journalling that also happened these past few days. A lot of thoughts and emotions along the lines of Gratitude. Perspective. Self-Compassion. Onwards and upwards and all that.
The last two books I had read in September didn’t live up what I had hoped for. I’m glad to say that my current read “The Atlas Six” excels my expectations, which shouldn’t have been a surprise, as I have already enjoyed two different books from the writer Olivie Blake (aka Alexene Farrol Fallmouth). I was a bit hesitant, because in some way the book seems quite hyped (TikTok sensation etc.) and I was afraid I might feel the same way about it than I did with the other super successful (but also quite hyped) Empyrean series aka “Fourth Wing”. Which I read the first book of, but didn’t feel hooked enough to keep going. Yes, I know the latter is clearly marketed as from the fantasy genre and the Atlas Series as (dark academia) magic genre. Fantasy and Magic are not the same. But as a reader I admit I’m rather particular about what in each genre I enjoy and/or can tolerate. And both series are similar in that way, that we follow a group of new/young recruits who start training for their new “job”.
I’m intrigued….
I very much enjoy The Atlas Six so far though. The world building works fine for me, the six main characters are interesting / intriguing, the plot has the right amount of twist & turns so far and I love how the whole magic idea is interspersed with philosophical and scientific aspects. Do I have an idea who might be eliminated after year 1? Not really yet. I know whom I’d like it to be, but I have no idea. Every story needs a villain, and that’s probably exactly the reason why it won’t be them. And maybe it’s just me who thinks they are the villain in this part of the story. I’ll see.
Of course, as the “shipper” that I still sometimes tend to be, I see romantic potential of one of the woman with two of the three guys. I still haven’t worked out which I might prefer. One way it would be a classic trope, which doesn’t have to be a bad thing. I’ll be back on the couch with the book after finishing this, for sure.
Talking about “shipping”, I was in disbelief earlier this week, when I read that “Grey’s Anatomy” would go into it’s 20th season this year. I had been such a huge fan of this show for quite a number of years. So many long episode reviews on my previous blog. Rewatching certain episodes / scenes so many times. Obsessing over the brilliant music selection. I know would have to look up the season synopsis / episodes list to be able to tell you when I gradually lost interest. I did stop watching for good when Shonda killed McDreamy. On my birthday!
But it was fun while it lasted and I’m planning to “re-visit” some of the music this weekend at least.
Talking about music: T-11 days till I finally see my favourite band play a full band headline show again. It’s been too long.
The post below were the first words I ever wrote about that “funny, little, yellow show”. Long before they moved to the Fortune Theatre with it’s fancy yellow curtain! Long before they came up with the logo they’ve been using for so long now. I think – and now just claim – my friends and I must have been among the first 300 people ever to have seen a full – two acts in a proper theatre – performance of this.
Being a “Mincefluencer” before anyone came up with that term!
Two different theatres and four years later they moved to the West End. Got their run extended and extended. Won a bloody Olivier Award! And now they’ve got a transfer the Broadway! OH MY GOD.
Father’s never been prouder
Program / Flyer of the first ever run
That was my tweet, right after the show
Just saw #OperationMincemeat at @newdiorama. OMG, so amazing and so much fun to watch. More detailed praise later, when I’m fed, showered and back in WiFi range. Stellar cast, fantastic score (@FelixHagan really went all out). Brilliant stage design too. Absolutely recommend
Many, many hours later, here are finally my thoughts (and praise) for “Operation Mincemeat”, the first musical written, composed and performed by Spitlip. I blame the Eurovision Song Contest for the delay and the fact, that I spent a lot of time last night (and today) on Spitlips’s Soundcloud and Youtube to listen to the available songs over and over again. I also researched some of the events and persons the whole story was about. And then to complicate my schedule, early this morning Frank Turner announced he’ll bring Lost Evenings IV to Berlin next year. So of course I had to discuss plans with my friends and find suitable and affordable rooms and… ARGH! Lost Evenings 2020 in Berlin! This is so incredibly cool!
But now… Spitlip and “Operation Mincemeat”. The musical is based on a true story of, well… “Operation Mincemeat” and while they might have taken some artistic liberty in regards to the characters and their relationships with each other, the fact remains, that this absolutely insane sounding deception operation actually did happen in 1943 and it did contribute to the Allied victory in WWII.
I should maybe say, that I usually don’t write elaborated reviews of any kind of entertainment. The one or other Frank Turner ging notwithstanding. So, this here is an audience fan account of the experience. I would never have heard of this project nor gone to see it, if one of my favourite artists – Felix Hagan – wasn’t involved and hadn’t been talking about it for a while. I’m a big fan of the ‘musical-flavoured’ big, powerful, glamorous tunes he’s been writing for Felix Hagan & the Family. And with the music for this epic 2 hour long musical he and his fellow writers have gone all out. It has everything from sea-shanty to heartbreaking love song, from feminist powerful Spice Girly pop and a power ballad full of self-doubt (and don’t I know that feeling, so this one absolutely hit home) to the big showtune celebrating extravagance in life in spite or more exact because of the ongoing war. The music overall was amazing and so were the lyrics. I was impressed by the wit and emotions and the pace of it all. But of course they didn’t just sing and dance, there was a story to tell and scenes to act out and the script was the right mix of hilarity and introspection, of coming-of-age story and social commentary. And often, oh so very funny.
For this musical the three acting members of Spitlip – Natasha Hodgson, Zoe Roberts and David Cumming – were joined by two more actors: Rory Furey-King and Jak Malone and all five people on stage were absolutely brilliant: all with great voices and such a wide range of acting skills. Because even though they each played one main character, they also portrayed many more throughout this whole story, whenever someone other than the five main characters needed to make an appearance. It was an impressive whirlwind, which was helped along by the outstanding set and costume design from Helen Coyston. The way in which the simple stage changed from one set to another and equally the actors switched roles from pathologist to night club singer to taciturn Scottish submariner and back again in mere seconds was absolutely fascinating to watch.
I have to admit it took me a few moments to really get accustomed to the switched gender roles in this play, where two of the main male characters – Montagu and Bevan – were played by women and one of the female main characters – Hester – played by a man. Yes, that sounds weird at first, but after the first few scenes I didn’t notice it anymore, especially once the whole cast convincingly started playing so many more characters of either gender. And it’s called acting for a reason, right?
I don’t really want to single out any members of this cast, because they were all so good. But, I just feel that I need to give two special shout-outs and I hope the remaining three forgive me. I really, really enjoyed Tash’s performance in this. I might be biased, because of course I know and love her from “Felix Hagan & the Family”, where she can’t always show what kind of great voice she has; being a ‘background’ *g* singer and all. The second shout-out needs to go to Jak Malone, for his absolute tear-jerking performance in the “love letter” scene. Yeah, I did sniffle a bit and I’m not ashamed to admit it. Such a great act. And also… so wonderful, moving lyrics. Maybe I should also give an small shout-out to ‘Nancy’ for making all those wonderful little notes 🙂
Summed up: I absolutely enjoyed this afternoon and while I’m pretty biased, because… Felix! and Tash!… I left the theatre under the impression that the rest of the audience enjoyed it just as much. I’m so happy for this new and small musical troupe that it seems to be going well. Fingers crossed! I’m also happy that we got the chance to tell them all in person after the show, because they’ve pulled off something amazing here and they all seemed genuinely humbled to hear how much we had enjoyed it. So I was glad I told them.
And if any of you find yourself in London in the next couple of weeks, you should definitely check them out! They’ll be at the New Diorama until Mid-June. Long enough time even to plan a trip to London from somewhere else in the country I’d say 🙂
