Friday, 26 March 2010
Room 36
I watched this rather unusual film the other night. I'm not a film buff and don't know if Room 36 is widely known. If not, then it certainly is deserving of recognition.
Room 36 has been described as a film noir, a horror, a comedy and a farce and it is indeed all of these things. Imagine a black and white Brian Rix farce with lots of blood and a few 'f'words.
Amongst the blood and gore it has some great comic moments. I particularly liked Paul Herzberg as the tidy-obsessive hitman and Frank Scantori as the large, naughty underwear salesman.
Cursed from the beginning, it took 11 years to make Room 36, causing problems with continuation, ie. aging actors! There is a heartwarming documentary which accompanies the film - telling a tale of sheer determination of director/writer Jim Groom to complete the project.
Visit www.room36movie.com for more information and a synopsis.
Other news:
It's my 50th birthday this summer and a few years ago, Trevor and I planned to celebrate it in the USA. We hadn't known then, of course, that we'd be flat broke in 2010. This year I resigned myself to inviting family members over for a glass of pop and a sandwich.
Well there's no need for me to butter any bread because my fantastic parents have bought us a week's holiday to Jersey in the Channel Islands! I lived there for a couple of years in the 1980's and have always longed to return. We'll be staying in a hotel - I hope we're not in Room 36.
Thursday, 11 March 2010
National No Smoking Day - 10th March 2010
I wrote a blog article last June about how I gave up smoking in 2004. This article was picked up recently by a producer at the BBC Coventry & Warwickshire radio station. She invited me to go into the studios on 'National No Smoking Day' (yesterday,10th March) for a live interview with the morning presenter, Annie Othen.
The programme is available to listen to on BBC iPlayer, only for about a week I think, if anyone is interested,
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p006qwgt/Annie_Othen_10_03_2010/
I'm on air 8 minutes 45 seconds into the programme until 26 minutes 51 seconds. Annie Othen is such a lovely, interesting person you may want to listen to all of her programme!
The programme is available to listen to on BBC iPlayer, only for about a week I think, if anyone is interested,
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p006qwgt/Annie_Othen_10_03_2010/
I'm on air 8 minutes 45 seconds into the programme until 26 minutes 51 seconds. Annie Othen is such a lovely, interesting person you may want to listen to all of her programme!
Making a Drama out of a Crisis
Gaslight
Playing Bella Manningham at the Rugby Theatre 6-13 February was a tremendous experience. After a 7-year break from stage acting, it was good to tread the boards again. Here is a small selection of photos from the 90 or so that were taken during 2 dress rehearsals.
I don't know about my performance but that wig deserved a standing ovation. it managed to stay on, in spite of me throwing myself around the stage! I called it 'Fido' and fed it twice a day.
Moving wallpaper - or furniture anyway
Referring to my last blog post on 21st February - the crisis is over. It sounds over-dramatic I know, but a few weeks ago I thought I'd never feel happy again. Business was slow in 2009, resulting in mounting debts and the need to drastically reduce our monthly outgoings. We made enquiries to let our house and before we knew it, it was advertised and snapped up with tenants wanting to move in within 2 weeks! We weren't in a financial position to turn it down and it meant we had to find somewhere else much cheaper to live, and find it quickly. As luck would have it, a flat was available to rent in the same road, just 65 yards away at an affordable price. Extremely lucky, you might be thinking, and you'd be right, the flat is fabulous BUT... no dogs allowed! If we'd had time to consider it all properly we would NEVER have parted with our 2 gorgeous little dogs, but we had to make an urgent decision, so the dogs went. Trevor, my daughter Lucy and I never expected it to be as painful as it was and we all cried buckets for days after we gave them to another family.
However, just over a week ago, we contacted the family and they agreed to us taking the dogs out for a few hours. It was lovely but when we returned them, the pooches seemed so pleased to be back with their new family, we accepted they aren't ours any more and it was time to let go. Crisis over and happy times have returned :)
Playing Bella Manningham at the Rugby Theatre 6-13 February was a tremendous experience. After a 7-year break from stage acting, it was good to tread the boards again. Here is a small selection of photos from the 90 or so that were taken during 2 dress rehearsals.
I don't know about my performance but that wig deserved a standing ovation. it managed to stay on, in spite of me throwing myself around the stage! I called it 'Fido' and fed it twice a day.
Moving wallpaper - or furniture anyway
Referring to my last blog post on 21st February - the crisis is over. It sounds over-dramatic I know, but a few weeks ago I thought I'd never feel happy again. Business was slow in 2009, resulting in mounting debts and the need to drastically reduce our monthly outgoings. We made enquiries to let our house and before we knew it, it was advertised and snapped up with tenants wanting to move in within 2 weeks! We weren't in a financial position to turn it down and it meant we had to find somewhere else much cheaper to live, and find it quickly. As luck would have it, a flat was available to rent in the same road, just 65 yards away at an affordable price. Extremely lucky, you might be thinking, and you'd be right, the flat is fabulous BUT... no dogs allowed! If we'd had time to consider it all properly we would NEVER have parted with our 2 gorgeous little dogs, but we had to make an urgent decision, so the dogs went. Trevor, my daughter Lucy and I never expected it to be as painful as it was and we all cried buckets for days after we gave them to another family.
However, just over a week ago, we contacted the family and they agreed to us taking the dogs out for a few hours. It was lovely but when we returned them, the pooches seemed so pleased to be back with their new family, we accepted they aren't ours any more and it was time to let go. Crisis over and happy times have returned :)
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