Yay for me!

Bond conundrum

mostlyacat — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 23:24:47 GMT

So you are James Bond and you have just saved the world again at the end of Thunderball. You are lying on a life raft with the gorgeous woman you have just saved from a cruel fate. You inflate a helium balloon at the end of a long rope and attach the rope to a harness on your wetsuit. A large airforce plane with a specially adapted nose flies over and catches the rope, catapulting you and the girl into the air behind the plane at high speed. The end credits roll and the music plays. But: how the hell do Bond and the girl survive this? Think about it - the plane can't land without killing them and they have no parachute or even a way to unhook themselves. Answers on a postcard...

Cooliris for Google Chrome

mostlyacat — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 23:03:04 GMT

I really recommend the Cooliris extension for Google Chrome. It shows images on a large virtual 3D wall which you can browse around using the mouse. Great for browsing images, including on hard disk, facebook and google image search. Yay for shiny toys.

You can search google images for "cats" and then see an infinitely long wall of photos of cats. Sooooo many cats.

Today

mostlyacat — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 23:12:11 GMT

Today I went to see Avatar. It does not have the highest intellectual content in the world and is mainly built up from various stereotypes, including stupid Americans destroying things they don't understand, but the 3d graphics are superb and it was good entertainment for a few hours.

Also, mirabehn and I met up with Jenny and Josh and other lovely people including mirrorshard and several_bees and kerrypolka for a pub evening in Marylebone. Yay for lovely people. There was much nattering and rejoicing.

mirabehn and I missed the last train home due to me coveting chips, so we will have to get a taxi from Staines.

Some more photos from 2009

mostlyacat — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 21:49:43 GMT

I have added many more photos to my web site from 2009. Some of these photos have been on facebook already, but most are new. The albums that are new are:

Burnination
Sam and Ralph
Winchester
Roz
Ardnamurchan
Windsor Great Park
Sasha's Birthday
Oxford party
Family
Gardens of the rose
Waddesdon Manor
Michele and James' Wedding
Man of Mode
Sam's housewarming
Alice Roberts

Yay for photos. I must take my camera with me to more places this year. Sometimes I leave it at home thinking it is too big or something. That attitude does not lead to photos and is therefore bad.

Photos from Arnamurchan holiday 2009

mostlyacat — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 21:34:52 GMT

Partly because of some Bardcamp preparation procrastination, and partly because of my new shiny monitor and faster internet connection, I have finally updated my web site with some more photos from last year. This includes photos from the holiday to Ardnamurchan in April with ashfae, atreic, emperor, medieval_bunny, midnightmelody, mirabehn, mirrorshard, mostlyacat, randomchris, smhwpf, strongtrousers, sunlightdances, and the_elyan.

Ah, it was a fantastic holiday - beautiful scenery and wonderful company. Previously only the photos from the Lord of the Rings readthrough have been on the site, but they have now been joined by the rest. You should see some of the photos of waterfalls near Tobermory, including this one, and some cute lambs in Portuairk. :-)

mostlyacat — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 13:46:39 GMT

Yay, I am singing in a concert tonight in Amersham. It is going to be great. :-)

Rachmaninov and Bach

The Indulgence Consort, directed by Mark Johnstone

Saturday 28th November 2009, 7.30pm
St Mary's Church, Amersham
Tickets £10 (£6 for children under 16) From 07720 508988 or on the door

Rachmaninov's Vespers and Bach's Jesu Meine Freude

There are some more concerts for Christmas - see here.

Concert pimping

mostlyacat — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 18:26:27 GMT

I am singing in a few concerts in the next few months. They are all going to be fabulous - please come if you can!


		Heart Strings Stunning music for voices and string ensemble. The Wooburn Singers and Emfeb String Orchestra Saturday 21st November 2009, 7.30pm St Nicolas Church, Taplow - near Maidenhead and Slough Tickets £12 (£6 students) Combining lesser known works of Mendelssohn's Jesu Meine Freude and Beethoven's Elegischer Gesang with popular classics of Mozart's Ave Verum Corpus, Franck's Panis Angelicus and Fauré's Cantique de Jean Racine this concert promises to provide a heart-warming antidote to chilly November nights. More information... More Wooburn Singers concerts...

		Rachmaninov and Bach The Indulgence Consort, directed by Mark Johnstone Saturday 28th November 2009, 7.30pm St Mary's Church, Amersham Tickets £10 (£6 for children under 16) From 07720 508988 or on the door Rachmaninov's Vespers and Bach's Jesu Meine Freude

		Christmas Concerts Christmas music and carols for choir and audience The Wooburn Singers Saturday 12th December 2009, 7.30pm All Saints Church, Marlow More information... Saturday 19th December 2008, 7.30pm St Mary's Church, Beaconsfield More information... Tickets £12 (£6 students) More Wooburn Singers concerts...

Squirrels

mostlyacat — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 22:36:12 GMT

My photos from the readthrough of A Midsummer Night's Dream will soon be appearing on my web site, but they're being slow to upload. Curse the slow uplink speed of adsl. In the mean time, there are some photos of squirrels that were posing for photos before the readthrough began. Some people might think they were only trying to get food, but I know that they saw their chance to make it big on the internet. They have asked me (as their agent) to read this prepared statement from the squirrels:

"No more lol cats. Lol squirrels. We don't wants cheeseburgers. We wants nut burgers. And send us a GPS to finds where we put our frickin nuts. Oh... did I leave the gas on?"

A symptom of something?

mostlyacat — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 22:04:39 GMT

I read most of a T3 magazine this evening containing lots of shiny gadgetty things. I thought to myself "no, I don't need any of that".

Is there something wrong with me? Am I getting old? Am I just in denial about my lust for shiny things? Mmmm iPhone... but no no no wrong wrong bad!

Confusing the mirabehn

mostlyacat — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 23:15:44 GMT

Yesterday, unknown to mirabehn, I bought a head torch thing from Tesco because I thought it might be useful. Today I switched off all the lights in the house and then came upstairs with my head torch on to where mirabehn was (she was on the phone to yvesilena at the time). Hehe. mirabehn was very confused. She thought I was going mining or something.

Which tarot card are you

mostlyacat — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 10:16:22 GMT

You are The Hierophant

Divine Wisdom. Manifestation. Explanation. Teaching.

All things relating to education, patience, help from superiors.The Hierophant is often considered to be a Guardian Angel.

The Hierophant's purpose is to bring the spiritual down to Earth. Where the High Priestess between her two pillars deals with realms beyond this Earth, the Hierophant (or High Priest) deals with worldly problems. He is well suited to do this because he strives to create harmony and peace in the midst of a crisis. The Hierophant's only problem is that he can be stubborn and hidebound. At his best, he is wise and soothing, at his worst, he is an unbending traditionalist.

What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.

Meep

mostlyacat — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 23:55:46 GMT

When I was driving home from work this evening there was a dead cat near the exit of the work car park - it had obviously been hit by a car. Poor cat. I really love cats.

mostlyacat — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 00:01:56 GMT

Google Earth, Google Earth, does everything that a Google Earth can.

How to look good in readthrough photos

mostlyacat — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 22:11:59 GMT

Over the last few years I have taken thousands and thousands of photos of lovely people at readthroughs of plays, TV shows and so on. As well as choosing what photos to take, an important part of the process is going through them to find the best ones to put on the internet. I know what makes a good photo and I know what factors are likely to improve your chances of appearing in the final set of photos for the web. Of course readthroughs are not all about making photos and any photography should not get in the way of our enjoyment of readthroughs. Nevertheless I have made a list of things that can help with the photography. Many of these things apply to acting in general and contribute to the enjoyment of everyone present not just the photographer, so they can help to take your readthrough skills to the next level if you like. You don't have to of course. For each point there is an example of people doing it right (not doing it wrong).

Look up - This is the single most important thing you can do. In the early days there were many many photos of people standing around looking down reading their scripts. Now we are bored with that and photos of people looking down are likely to be rejected unless they have something else interesting going on. It's all about the eyes. Look at who you are talking to or maybe look dramatically into space or something. While someone is talking to you don't follow their words in the script - just remember the last line of what they will say and then look at them, listen to them and react. This will give lots of time with your head up with little effort. Often if I'm taking photos of someone I'll wait until they look up, but sometimes either I give up waiting or the looks up are very brief and I either miss them or they're blurry. The photos from bardcamp give the impression that lots of people are looking up, but this is an illusion because of me choosing when to take photos and which photos to keep. Example

Show some emotion - Emotion always wins. Think of what your character thinks of the people they're onstage with and how they react to what is going on. Example

Keep your script out of the way - some people often hold their script up quite high so it covers their faces or other people's faces. This way lies doom. Example

Have a costume - You don't have to of course, but people with good costumes get many many more photos of them. Changing costume mid play is a sure way to get yet more photos of you. Example

Don't obstruct the view - If your character isn't doing much and isn't in a group with other characters then keep back somewhere so other people (and the camera) can see. Example

Be interesting - Anything interesting will improve your chances. Expression, gestures, position relative to other people, get in people's faces, hold them, push them, kill them (if it's in the script), props, costume, be cute, mad, naked, drunk, all of the above, the possibilities are endless. Example

Make nice compositions - Hmmm this one might be difficult to explain. Imagine there's an audience. If you're in a group of people then be reasonably close together in an interesting way and so that the camera can see you all. The lens I use most at read-throughs works out fairly long (50mm x 1.6 = 80mm fixed focal length) so you have to be physically close together or you're out of shot. Example

Flirt with the camera - Some people are very adept at this. You know who you are and I love you. :-) Example

Don't have your back to the windows during daylight - You will have light behind you so you will look dark and because you're also being lit by tungsten lights the camera's white balance will get very confused and you'll end up looking dark orange! There's only so much that photoshop can do, so the delete key becomes more inviting. Example

Be well lit - Imagine that where the light is coming from is where your audience is and so that's probably where the photographer dude will be. During daylight this means the audience is towards one of the windows. When there's no daylight don't be in a dimly lit corner and don't stand with your back to a light. If you're wearing a hat then the brim will make your face less well lit so this is extra important. Example

Be a pretty girl! - What can I say? I have a weakness for pretty women so the guys are at a disadvantage here! ;-) Example Many other examples of course...

A fail and a successful deployment of anti-fail countermeasures

mostlyacat — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 13:12:49 GMT

My glasses disintegrated a bit this morning just before I was going to leave for work - one of the lenses fell out because a screw came loose. Eek. Luckily this happened just next to where I happen to keep a glasses repair kit that I happened to buy in Tescos some time ago and I happened to remember where I had put it, so I mended them with no problem. :-)

Concert pimping

mostlyacat — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 21:27:00 GMT

Concert

I am singing in a concert next Saturday 11th October in Marlow with the Wooburn Singers. It is going to be very good of course. :-) It is choral music by Vaughan Williams and other composers. If you would like to come I can book you a ticket. I have two very miniscule solos. mirabehn, mirrorshard and kateqp are going.

Photos from birthday ceilidh

mostlyacat — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 21:14:24 GMT

My photos from mirabehn and emperor's birthday ceilidh in Coventry are up on my web site. Photos of children are friends-only as usual so you will need an account on the site to be able to see those.

Ah, the ceilidh was so fun! There was much dancing and merriment. The venue was superb - St Mary's Guildhall in Coventry - an old medieval hall in the city centre. Sadly the medieval architects of course did not consider the needs of modern photographers so there was not much light available and the ceiling was too high to bounce flash off so the camera struggles to get enough light, but it is a beautiful place.

Yay, my parents, my lovely sister Heather and her boyfriend came. It is quite rare for them to meet my friends. I think they enjoyed the evening. I danced with Heather for a few dances, including a slow romantic one hehe.

Tired now! Must do sleeping soon.

This just in...

mostlyacat — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 23:14:38 GMT

In other news, tomorrow I am singing at a wedding in Marlow. I took the whole day off too. Hope the weather is nice.

Photos from Love's Labour's Lost

mostlyacat — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 22:02:43 GMT

My photos from the read-through of Love's Labour's Lost are on my web site. Hah! I even know exactly where to put the apostrophes now, after typing it many times. Note that there are three pages of photos this time.

It was a very fun read-through in the grounds of the Imperial War Museum to celebrate the day on which our dearest kerrypolka came into the world. She even spent part of the read-through up a tree, her native squirrel home. ;-)

The weather was quite perfect given the awful summer we have had so far, and there was plenty of light for taking photos and a pleasing backdrop of trees, buses and the occasional limosine. At one point a convoy of cars and vans with small tastefully-placed blue flashing lights came past - a sign of quality and hopefully indicating secretive activity. I expected to see them chasing Jason Bourne driving a beaten-up taxi or something.

The lens du jour was the 28-135mm one (the longer of my two zooms), and this was its busiest work for it so far I think. I find it's great for taking photos of people outside when there is lots of space. Over 800 photos were taken on the day, and 240ish of the best are online for your viewing pleasure. I am running out of hard disk space.

There are even some photos of me this time, taken by my lovely mirabehn. I had a lot of fun as Holofernes. He's in there somewhere, trying to get out. It was fun popping into the Imperial War Museum just to use the loo. As themed loos go it is very impressively decorated. Yay for free museum admission.

Waterloo graffiti

mostlyacat — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 21:41:09 GMT

In a tunnel near Waterloo station they have said that they will not prosecute graffiti artists, and not surprisingly some art happened. This was on our way to the read-through of Love's Labour's Lost on Saturday. There were many people taking photos of the graffiti, some with nice shiny cameras. Apparently the tunnel had been painted over two days before we were there, so all the art was brand new. The cars were a new addition since the previous round of graffiti apparently. My photos are on my web site.

Sniff

mostlyacat — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 21:16:50 GMT

I am fighting a cold at the moment. I really shouldn't have a cold in the summer. But hey, we haven't really had a summer so that's probably why. Other people at work have been having the same disease. Apparently the next stage involves sore throat followed by head falling off. Not looking foward to that bit.

We watched Alice Roberts' episode about the immune system just now. There was a scene where there were many many Alices all in the same room. So pretty and wonderful and friendly. I love Alice.

Photos from Matrimonial Trouble read-through

mostlyacat — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 22:31:49 GMT

My photos from the read-through at the weekend are up on my web site. I took almost 700 photos on the day, and I have chosen about 180 of the best to go on the web. Don't worry - the other ones are really quite similar so you're not missing anything. I hope you like them. Bear in mind there are two pages of photos - it's easy to miss that.

It was a fun play, despite having absolutely no plot. I met sashagoblin this weekend - first of all at wildeabandon's wonderful dinner party on Friday. sashagoblin is very friendly and strokeable. :-) Thanks to sashagoblin for organising the read-through.

In other (unrelated) news, my nose really hurts at the moment. It is inflamed and swollen from hay fever or infection or something, even at the top near my eyes. It's not normally like this and I'm already taking all my medication. I think I should see a doctor - I have to soon anyway for continuing my repeat prescription of hay fever drugs. Floom.

And why can't the weather be better too? It's kind of depressing to get virtually no summer weather during what are supposedly summer months. I sometimes don't like the summer because of hay fever, but to have hay fever and no summer is just wrong.

I love my mirabehn very much. She has nice arms. :-)

Yay for me

mostlyacat — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 22:21:09 GMT

The quest to replace the fence continues...

I painted four fence panels today. They are large and have lots and lots and lots of surface area which must all be covered with paint including all the hard to reach bits that they can't reach by themselves (hah I'd like to see them try). The paint must get into all the nooks and crannies just like a vileda supermop as the adverts years ago would have us believe. Now we just need to replace the evil grey panels of doooom with nice fresh orange panels of joy. Yes orange is their colour, chosen to be the most natural of all the colours available... oh yes. In our bathroom the strange alien orange glow of some of the new panels even matches the colour of our orange walls. Well, as long as everything is coordinated.

Some random people that spoke to me today have noticed the new gate that I had put in. They think it looks much nicer than a gaping hole in the fence filled with pustulent bits of wood that fall down deliberately with horses that are just about to pounce through in groups of five and trample on people's gardens while laughing in that mostly-silent horsey way. Some of the people who noticed have dogs. Some do not. What does this mean?

Alice is back!

mostlyacat — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 22:42:47 GMT

Alice Roberts' new TV series starts next Tuesday! It is the second series of Don't Die Young, and the first two episodes are about the male and female reproductive organs. Oh I am going to enjoy Tuesday evening very much. Alice will have her funky theme tune and she will be there doing strange experiments on herself and going in aeroplanes and things. Alice I love you very much.

Tuesday 29th July BBC2 8.00pm and 8.30pm

I think I may have been the first person to rate the programmes on the radio times web site - I know they haven't happened yet but they deserve 5 stars. :-)

CND protest at Aldermaston

mostlyacat — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 18:21:00 GMT

Today I went to the CND protest at Aldermaston where they make nuclear weapons. There were thousands of people there and I hope we made a difference. Photos on my web site.

I walked round the entire base, following the perimeter fence - about 4.5 miles according to Google Earth. There were gatherings of people at the various gates with a different theme at each gate. It was cold and muddy, and there was a small amount of rain and some hail, but I had outdoor clothes and a flask of coffee so I was ok. There were some police horses patrolling the perimeter too. At 2pm everyone spread out around the base and at 2.30pm everyone made lots of noise, as instructed by mass text message from CND. I have a whistle now and a slight deafness as a result. :-) There were some speakers who came round on a lorry float making speeches, including some survivors of the bombs in Japan. There were various people making music to entertain people.

I feel virtuous but quite tired now.