Hey Guys,
Haven't blogged in a while (that has to be the under-statement of the year), or at least, blogged on this blog. I have multiple others, but they are mainly for school work etc (and to be honest I haven't blogged on them for a while either).
So here's the deal. I'm gonna start using this blog as more of a notes page - my very own wiki leaks :P hopefully I won't get sued and put under threat of death... any more than usual that is :P
At the moment I have a load of projects going on. They are all still at the conception stage (my little foetus projects... is that sick?? I don't know any more - head is everywhere at the moment).
The first project is sorta a diary thing. But, as I am away from home at the moment (and couldn't be bothered to bring my tripod with, as well as forgetting my camera won't stand on it's self - only problem it has...grrr) I'm just gonna write it all here for the moment so when it comes to actually making this thing I can still have some of the raw emotions and stuff that I need.
So here goes...
I'm at that stage in life where the compulsory education comes to an abrupt halt and I have to go to university. Ok, I'm not moving out yet, but here's the deal. I've had to apply to a load of universities, and because I want to study drama and acting, I have to go to auditions and perform monologues etc etc etc. Now this would not be such a problem normally, but, being away from home sorta makes it a hell of a lot worse. I have two auditions up north (not stating where - not wanting to get myself sued for anything) and one down south. I am currently in the middle of the ones up north. I'll be honest, I've already done one and that didn't go so well. The way they auditioned you was really cold and the town wasn't that great either, but I didn't get in. SO no acceptance there...
Tomorrow is my next one. Now this is a uni that I might want to go to. I'm not thrilled about being 3 hours away from home etc, but at the moment I'm up for anything; I applied for five universities and there are only two now that aren't plain saying no. Thankfully, they are the ones I wanna go to...
But here's the deal. Here's the thing that is getting to me (besides being denied at the other three, and everyone on facebook shouting about how they have got all five offers... way to rub it in; all it's doing is making me sour :( ). My family I am staying with until I can go home (Saturday! yay!!) are PRESSURING ME!!! And I have too much respect for them to say 'shut up and go away'. It's actually making me feel ill and not go to this damn audition.
For this one tomorrow I have to learn three monologues. One I have known for the last year as I did it for my AS Coursework, and the others are Katherina's final speech in Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew, and one of Rosalind's speeches in this contemporary play (it's brilliant!) called 'After Juliet'. Now, I know both of these speeches, so much I can quote them better, but whenever I get 'tested' on them (especially with the Shakespeare one for, as much as I love him, he speaks funny) I don't get them word perfect. I will replace words such as 'that' with 'who', or I'll add in a 'but' at the beginning of a sentence to stop myself from going 'um' or just cos that feels right. I know that is a bad habit to be in, but getting the truth out of the words, for me, is the main thing, not being able to quote them with accuracy that would make the writer's weep. And yes, I know you are probably sitting there saying 'surely it's better to have it word perfect if it's for an audition', and I agree, but when I am being made to recite these damn monologues so much I am willing to shoot myself if I have to say 'Fie! Fie!' one more time then I think it's getting too much. It's become a chore, which will make it that much harder when it comes to the actual audition to get the truth and emotion in, don't cha think? I feel like I have to revise for an exam, but I know I know the stuff, but I am still being locked in a room and made to read the textbook through all over again. Personally, I don't think it will help anyone or anything if I despise the work so much. Of course, some of you could be sat there thinking 'but repeating yourself etc all the time word perfectly is what an actor has to do since they have to perform the same thing over and over again etc'. This is true, and in fact I love this about acting (I know, I'm weird), but it allows you to realise the words in so many different ways. But normally it's not the same speech over and over again for two days straight, and normally you have someone there to bounce off of. I'm not saying I can't go and find someone to say these stupid things to, but it just irritates me (as you can probably tell...). I guess it's down to I feel judged whenever I do it around my family here. I know I'm probably not, and I know that 's what it's going to be like in the audition, but whenever I have rehearsed something like this with other people, they always say things like 'why don't you say this line like this' or 'approach the speech the speech like this maybe?' and I'll be learning the words through repetition, but it doesn't feel like repetition because I am doing it in so many different ways. Also, it helps build the performance. It just sucks.
But yes, I started writing this with the intention of telling you how stressed out I am and how nerve racking this process is, hopefully ending in some friendly piece of advice, but it's just turned into a rant about the rehearsal, not the actually audition...
I'll come back to this when I'm feeling a little less 'GRRAHGAGAGAGA!!!" and more "GAH!!!!!"...? hopefully that makes sense... :P
I'm hungry....
Just thought you should know.
I don't think I'm actually hungry, I just think I'm bored... I WANT TO GO HOME!!! :P
Anyway.....
CUPCAKES!!!!
If you've read anything before this you will get that reference....
No, News.
Have you seen the crossed-eyed possum?
Now this isn't actually news, but this little guy is slowly going global and even has her own facebook page:
(and several others dedicated to her)
as well as merchandise and a pop song about her. Would love to be her right now! Although being cross eyed effects her vision, animal experts say she'll be fine as possums rely mostly on their sense of smell to navigate. I mainly wanted to share this because she's so cute!
Staying with the animal thing, conservationists in China are dressing up like panda's:
The idea behind it is that the baby panda's won't be able to tell the difference between the handlers and actual panda's and so won't become accustomed to human's, and thus they will be able to go back into the wild and live normal panda lives. Now, this is a good idea I guess, but surely the baby panda's can smell the handlers. Unless they rub themselves down with Au de Panda (panda pee) everyday, I'm sure the baby panda's will be able to tell that there's something going on. But still, there's only minimal contact with us human's and at least they're trying to solve the panda problems... or they just wanted a new uniform...
Another silly article I found in my hunts was this:
A clothes store in Madrid offered the first one hundred semi-naked people through their doors to take two pieces of clothing away free (one top, and one bottom). I think this is a brilliant idea. Not only does it get great publicity for the store, there's free clothes man! And in times when cash is tight, I'm pretty sure everybody is up for free stuff. I think more shops should do this - would make No Pants day a global phenomenon!
Now, there has been a dispute about the TV spot for the new Saw 3D film.
A 10 year old has apparently written in saying the advert, shown after the 7.30 watershed, was 'Distressing' and 'inappropriately scheduled". I don't know about you, but I don't think a ten year-old uses that kind of language, or even cares about the movie. To be fair, his/her parent's may have helped with the letter, if the complaints are actually from the kid and not just their parent's voicing their opinions through the kid, and, having watched the trailer I can see why it could be distressing, but the last ten year old I spoke to had already seen the Grudge. Or do I just know some messed up people? The articles do say the trailer was shown in an ad break for Channel4's The Gadget Show, which is probably pushing it a bit, but I do see Clearcast's point that people watching TV after 7.30 should be able to tell it's a movie trailer. But, I don't know. I'm sorta on the fence with this one. i see both sides of the argument, but don't know which one to back. What do you think?
So, the world seems to be going mad. Or at least, the environment has decided to get us back for global warming. Along with the highly publicized floods in Australia (Thoughts and best wishes go out to them), Brazil has also had floods and mudslides, killing 348 people that we know of so far. This is a tragic event, and with floods happening all over the world (Australia, Brazil, South Africa) I just want to send my thoughts and best wishes out to everyone who has been affected by them. And guys, I'm urging you to send good Karma vibes out as well.
On a cheerier, more 'I can control this' note, the American Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords has opened her eyes for the first time since being shot in the head in the January 8th Arizona shootings. I know it's cheer in the context of sadness, and it's political, but I think this is an amazing thing. Some may argue that her involvement has lessened the attention of other's who were involved, but I disagree. Part of me thinks this would have received less attention overall if Gifford wasn't involved. At least Obama is actively getting involved, that can't be a bad thing!
But on the brighter side, Gabrielle Gifford has opened her eyes for the first time in over a week, and I think that is a brilliant sign for anyone.
As always, leave your opinions and views in the comment section below, and keep your eyes open.
(CROSS EYED POSSUM!!!!)
