So here's what you do - go to Wikipedia and pop in the date you were born, leave out the year for a broader selection of interesting facts.
Then you post - Three Facts. Two Births. One Death.
FACTS:
1879 - Using a filament of carbonized thread, Thomas Edison tests the first practical electric incandescent light bulb (it lasted 13 1/2 hours before burning out). And where would be if he hadn't done that? Even more in the dark than we are now.
1945 - Argentine military officer and politician Juan Perón married actress Evita. And if they hadn't, then Andrew Lloyd Webber wouldn't have written all those musicals. I leave it to you if this a good thing or a bad thing.
1983 - The metre is defined at the seventeenth General Conference on Weights and Measures in terms of the speed of light as the distance light travels in a vacuum in 1/299,792,458 of a second. I never knew that! LOVE useless useful information.
BIRTHS
1833 - Alfred Nobel, Swedish inventor and founder of the Nobel Prize (d. 1896) Yeah, don't mind this one.
1956 - Carrie Fisher, American actress and writer Great. I share my birthday with Princess Leia.
DEATH
1805 - Horatio Nelson, British admiral (mortally wounded in battle) (b. 1758) Battle of Trafalgar of course. Britain ruled the waves for a century or so as a result, and of course London got Trafalgar Square, and the world got "Kiss me Hardy."

You Are 44% Evil

You are evil, but you haven't yet mastered the dark side. Fear not though - you are on your way to world domination.

How Evil Are You?

Song of Perfect Propriety
(A little Dorothy Parker to start the day.)

Oh, I should like to ride the seas,
A roaring buccaneer;
A cutlass banging at my knees,
A dirk behind my ear.
And when my captives' chains would clank
I'd howl with glee and drink,
And then fling out the quivering plank
And watch the beggars sink.

I'd like to straddle gory decks,
And dig in laden sands,
And know the feel of throbbing necks
Between my knotted hands.
Oh, I should like to strut and curse
Among my blackguard crew....
But I am writing little verse,
As little ladies do.

Oh, I should like to dance and laugh
And pose and preen and sway,
And rip the hearts of men in half,
And toss the bits away.
I'd like to view the reeling years
Through unastonished eyes,
And dip my finger-tips in tears,
And give my smiles for sighs.

I'd stroll beyond the ancient bounds,
And tap at fastened gates,
And hear the prettiest of sound-
The clink of shattered fates.
My slaves I'd like to bind with thongs
That cut and burn and chill....
But I am writing little songs,
As little ladies will.

(Not to be taken too literally of course, just a gentle (?) rant against propriety and the imposition of society's expectations.)

PATTI LuPONE

On receiving a Tony nomination for her performance as Mrs. Lovett in the revival of Sweeney Todd at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre, New York.

Q: What does being nominated mean to you?
LuPone: It's a relief ! [Laughs.] It's almost like it's a validation of your performance. You don't want it to be that, but it feels like you're accepted. It feels like your performance has been stamped with approval.



Love this lady, she's one of the biggest names on Broadway. I was lucky enough to have seen her in "Evita," she's been nominated (and won) before.

This just gets me as a refreshingly honest comment.

Had A Bad Day
by way of a vent, a moan and a bit of a downer

Daniel Powter's song sums it up neatly. I'm resisting the urge to play it non-stop. Limiting it to once every half hour. Tops.
Late yesterday they told me I didn't get the promotion I've been chasing for way too long. I guess it was some perverted sense of "keeping face" that made me face up to work today when they were announcing who got the gig. I really didn't want to be there. Didn't help it was the crappiest day I've known there either, far worse and far busier than the three big launches I've been through with them. Being suggested I show some team spirit and take calls after 5 hrs on the floor instead of taking a shortened lunch didn't help - pretty insulting actually. Lots of other little things didn't help, but that's the way things are. I guess I'm tired of keeping a smile on my face for everyone else when I feel my world has just crashed.
I really wanted to rage today - in the original sense of the world - rage at the unfairness of it all, rage at the futility, rage at the background that implanted that damned "Protestant Work Ethic" that makes me just get down and do the job without showing off or ringing my own bell. I feel angry and hurt and battered and I can't afford to show it. That's maybe the worst thing.
Time to hit the publish button before I delete this, and time to play that song again. Nothing like wallowing in your misery every now and then.

My Life In Song

Put your media player onto shuffle, and let it answer the following questions for you:
Stolen from Rob & his missus, and tagged by Melly.


How does the world see me?
”Smile” – Dianne Reeves “you could smile away the storm clouds” – it’s for sure the way I’d like the world to see me.

Will I have a happy life?
”Si tu supieras” – Alejandro Fernandez Translates as “if you knew.” If indeed !

What do my friends really think of me?
”Solitaire” – The Carpenters. They obviously know me too well.

Do people secretly lust after me?
”Ice Cream” – Sarah McLachlan “better than ice-cream, better than anything else I’ve ever tried.” Really ?

How can I make myself happy?
”Et j’attends” (and I wait) – Leslie. Now that’s seriously depressing.

What should I do with my life?
”Devil’s right hand” – Steve Earle (“Brokeback Mountain” soundtrack), Now the song is about a pistol – that last one wasn’t that depressing. Or maybe cos its from “Brokeback” it just means I should go out and find me a cowboy ( mmmm . . . . Jake !)

Will I ever have children?
”Goodbye My Lover” – James Blunt. I would take that as a resounding no.

What is some good advice for me?
”What About Me”- Moving Pictures. Oh Boy! Melly if they sent out the email at work today you’ll understand just how much this one freaks me out !

How will I be remembered?
”Somewhere My Love” – Andy Williams (theme from Dr Zhivago). Errrmmmm, I hate to say it but it kinda fits. Always hoping. And no, I’m NOT ashamed this is on my playlist.

What is my signature song?
”Canta corazon” (the heart sings) – Alejandro Fernandez.

What type of men/women do I like?
”Flying Purple People Eater” – Sheb Woolley. Ohh gimme a break! This thing is out to get me.

What is my day going to be like?
”Starting Here, Starting Now” – Barbra Streisand. “the greatest journey heaven can allow.” I swear I’m not fiddling this

What do I think my current theme song is?
”These Walls” – Teddy Geiger “everything seemed OK when I started out the other day, now the rain came pouring down and I’m drowning in my fears” Hits the nail right on the head today.

What does everyone else think my current theme song is?
”Blackbird” – Sarah Mclachlin. Yeah, figures. They would.

What song will play at my funeral?
”Ti Amo” (I Love You) – Umberto Tozzi It’d be OK so long as everyone sang along – even nicer if they meant it.

MERAPI


So, Mt.Merapi, after 11 ½ years of quiet, is flexing its muscles again, and looks like a major eruption is imminent.
Ten years ago I went to the magical island of Java for the first time. I started out intending to go to Bali for a few days, then on to Jogyakarta for the main purpose of the visit – the temples of Borabadur and Prambanan. Spent most of the flight thinking “I don’t want to go to Bali” so on arrival at Denpasar I walked over to the domestic terminal and caught the first flight to Jogya.
We circled over Jogya a few times before landing, and the soaring towers of Prambanan were easy to pick out from the air. Borabadur was impossible to pick out.
Two days later when I visited it at sunrise I could see why. While Hindu Prambanan soars and lifts the spirit, Buddhist Borabadur is of the earth, solidly and massively grounded. It is the climb up through walled in corridors lined with bas-reliefs, the symbolic effort of getting to the top, that uplifts the spirit. And at the top, finally, open space. It feels incredibly high up, the surrounding plain lush with ripening rice paddies and clumps of forest, rimmed by soft grey hills, and dominating it all Merapi, my first active volcano, a perfect cone with a peaceful seeming plume of smoke rising straight up in the still morning air, a quietly powerful and awesome presence.

Bayu. the young man on the front desk at the hotel had for some reason taken quite a fancy to me (but that’s another story) and the next day he took me up the mountain.
The 30k drive was glorious, through the rice paddies and into the forest at the foot of the mountain, climbing up through the lush green jungle to the beautiful, neat little hill resort of Kaliorang where we hired a guide to take us up the mountain.
It was cooler there than on the plains, no breeze, but a cloudy day, so only a gentle light filtering through the trees, unseen birds singing to a constant undertone of water dripping off the leaves. Our guide, a tiny, wiry man of middle-age set off with a crate of soft-drink on his head, a clutch of umbrellas under is arm. We climbed for about two hours, there was a gem of a tiny, moss-covered waterfall we stopped at about half-way, glad of that crate of soft-drink. Soon after it started to rain, gentle and warm, and we were glad of his umbrellas. How I wish I had a photo of that faintly ludicrous image I treasure of the three of us climbing a volcano, gentleman’s umbrellas resolutely held high.
After two hours we found ourselves with a group of a dozen or so other climbers on a ledge perched high above a mist filled valley. The end of the climb as it turned out. The clouds were so low you felt you could reach up and touch them, but that meant the rest of the trail was too dangerous. Where we had so far been climbing around the mountain, a comparatively easy hike, from this point on it was a narrow trail on the crest of a ridge, then on the steep side of the upper cone, the lack of visibility and the wet slippery path too dangerous for tourists.
Still, the view was stunning, and something about knowing we were perched on the side of a volcano meant everyone was speaking, if at all, in subdued tones. I found myself almost wishing Merapi would grumble or belch a reminder she was there underneath and above us. Suddenly our guide started talking, quietly but rapidly. I had to wait for Bayu to translate. The guide was telling us that a year ago that day he had been sitting at this very spot with a group of tourists when Merapi blew her top. The flow of superheated gas that killed 60 people went down the other side of the mountain, but they fled down through falls of ash. Somehow I was glad Merapi held her peace that day.

Gypsy and me.


Got to talking the other day, and happened to mention my one and only appearance on the professional stage. Got to thinking on the way home it might be worth blogging about. Got to thinking about when I got home, and came to realise it linked to a few other memories, and the common link was "Gypsy."
Now any of you died in the wool music-theatre buffs will of course realise that "Gypsy" is one of the all-time greats of America's only truly original contribution to the performing arts - the Musical. Written back in the 'fifties by Jule Styne for the ubiquitous Ethel Merman, it quickly reached such legendary status that it seemed no would ever dare perform it again. Filmed not entirely successfully with Rosalind Russell, I figured for years that was going to be my only chance to see it. I loved it from the first time I heard I heard the drum roll and blaring brass at the start and end of what is arguably the best overture written for a musical.
Skip a few years. I've finished college, and am determined to work in the theatre. Somehow, anyhow. More for fun that anything else I'm taking dance classes, a bit out of my depth in the "modern" but loving tap, and it's there I meet the second love of my life. The tap classes are held in the old J.C.Williamson's rehearsal studio, high above the set construction workshop behind Her Majesty's Theatre. We borrowed tap shoes from the wicker baskets full of shoes left over from old JCW productions. Mine came from "No No Nanette" and belonged to Paul Wallace. He was the original Tulsa in "Gypsy" with Merman, and recreated the role in the film.
J.C. Williamson's announce they are producing "Gypsy," following the huge success of the first, belated, London production. More from sheer bravado than anything we decide to audition for it. On stage at Her Majesty's Theatre - a thrill in itself - in front of the legendary Betty Pounder ("Sparkle Darlings!") Well, I did my best to sparkle, but Scott got in, I didn't.
Time passes. I get a job stage-managing a small dance company. Scott goes into rehearsal. Opening night comes, I'm drinking with friends wanting nothing more than to go to the opening. One drink too many and I decide I will go, and I will get in. I somehow convince them to sell me a standing room ticket, so finally, from the back of the dress circle, I hear that amazing overture blaring up live from the pit of a real theatre. Gloria Dawn, one of our greatest performers, is a knockout. Technically the show is a disaster, the wonderful moment when Louise becomes Gypsy Rose Lee, the proscenium trucking downstage marred by it nearly falling over, pieces of scenery falling off, effects not working. I spend half the performance with Robbo, the Producton Manager, leaning on me in despair, patting his arm, reassuring him it will work. The show is a hit, that is obvious. Two weeks later word is out that Gloria Dawn is not well. Scott tells me the understudy is going on for the matinee. I go. She's good, but not good enough to carry the show. They announce that Toni Lamond is going into the show. Toni Lamond - Australia's favourite musical star. She steps in after four day's rehearsal. I see her second performance, different to Gloria's but another knockout, like she's taken all those difficult years she went through and channeled them into the performance of a life-time. The reception is an unforgettable welcome back and recognition of something wonderful happening up there on stage.
The show is a hit, and I see it a few more times, Toni's performance gets better all the time. Then it's time for it to go on tour. The dance company I'm working with is also going on tour. Tough times for the relationship with Scott, but they're going to Adelaide first, and we'll be there at the same time. Then they're off to Sydney. We do a tour of Queensland, and I stop off in Sydney on the way home. "Gypsy" is about to close, so I go to the last matinee. Toni Lamond's last moments on stage are chilling, real shivers down the back stuff. Seeing Scott is wonderful, but he gently and caringl breaks the news he is staying in Sydney, that's where the work is. Its a bitter-sweet few days, we know the relationship couldn't last at 1000km distance. Best of all possible ways for it finish though.

A few years (and a few relationships) later, and I'm having the time of my life Stage-Managing at the Last Laugh Theatre Restaurant. New show coming up and my boss bounds in announcing he has bought the set for it from the sell-off of old JCW sets. It turns out to be that false proscenium from "Gyspy" that wobbled its way downstage a few years earlier. It looks great, and winds up staying through the next couple of shows.

I decide four years at the Last Laugh is enough, and head off to London (and a few more relationships, concurrent this time.) Work is hard to find when I get back, but I wind up with a Christmas Pantomime at the Myer Mural Hall - a full-on traditional panto. I'm stage-managing, but part of my job is to appear on stage. My first (and last) professional appearance. I am to be Daisy the Cow. The front end mind you ! We go to pick up our costumes, and here the "Gypsy" connection comes full circle. The cow costume is a rather tired looking Caroline from - you guessed it - that production of "Gypsy."

Another one of Bruno.
Just 'cos.

40 Tags & 40 Nags

1. Have you ever been searched by the cops? Does Airport Security count ?
2. Do you close your eyes on roller coasters? No way, not never - wide open in stark terror !
3. When's the last time you've been sledding? Umm, doesn't that involve snow? That's gonna be cold weather. Who goes outdoors in snow ?
4. Would you rather sleep with someone else, or alone? As long as they don't snore.
5. Do you believe in ghosts? I do believe in ghosts. I do belive in ghosts.
6. Do you consider yourself creative? Just gimme an outlet
7. Do you think O.J. killed his wife? Care factor ?
8. Jennifer Aniston or Angelina Jolie? No contest. Angelina. I mean, who wants a loser.
9. Can you honestly say you know ANYTHING about politics? I pretend.
10. Do you know how to play poker? Started playing when I was four, its kind of a family tradition.
11. Have you ever been awake for 48 hours straight? Not for a very long time, and I hope never again.
12. What's your favorite commercial? That would mean admitting to watching commercial television!
13. Who was your first love? Shhhh, its a secret, but Gardiner McKay in "Adventures in Paradise" - why is an even bigger secret
14. If you're driving in the middle of the night, and no one is around how fast do you go? I'm not up in the middle of the night
15. Do you have a secret that no one knows but you? Two that no-one knows, and a few that only one person knows. (see Question 13)
16. Boston Red Sox or New York Yankees? Anything with New York in it has got to beat Boston.
17. Have you ever been Ice Skating? Yep - last girlfriend dragged me along a few times. . . . . Hey, maybe that's why!
18. How often do you remember your dreams? I dream half the day
19. When was the last time you laughed so hard you cried? Don't remember
20. Can you name 5 songs by The Beatle's? Yes, and more.
21. What's the one thing on your mind? What am I meant to be doing next ?
22. Do you believe in love at first sight? I believe in lust at first sight. (see pic)
23. Do you know who Ba-Ba-Booey is? Huh ?
24. How often do you brush your teeth a day? Morning and night
25. What talent do you wish you had? Singing
26. Do you like sushi? At least three or four times a week.
27. Have you ever narrowly avoided a fatal accident? Twice.
28. What do you wear to bed? Whatever keeps me warm and cosy
29. Have you ever been caught stealing? Not yet
30. Does size matter? Is this a trick question ?
31. How many drinks of alcohol a day? About 0.1
32. Rock or Rap? No contest - Rock
33. If you could sleep with one famous person, who would it be? This week would be Brazilian Supermodel Bruno Santos - (see same pic.)
34. Do you know anyone in jail? I think he gets out in a month or so
35. Have you ever sung in front of the mirror? I cannot lie - Barney is my witness - yes.
36. How often do you like whoopie? As in Makin' Whoopie? As often as I can. (I live in terror of forgetting how)
37. What food do you find disgusting? That thing with the monkey under the table
38. Did you ever play, "I'll show you mine, if you show me yours? I knew there was something missing in my childhood
39. Have you ever made fun of your friends behind their back? Why bother? I'd just have to repeat it to their face later on
40. Have you ever stood up for someone you hardly knew? Yeah, and I'm still wondering why. Ungrateful bastard.

Tagged by Melly yet again.

It's Not About Me...Really.
I AM: what I am, I am my own . . .
I WANT: it all
I WISH: often
I HATE: rarely
I MISS: being young and carefree
I FEAR: loneliness
I HEAR: music - and there's no-one there
I WONDER: Where the dimple will be
I REGRET: Rien de rien
I AM NOT: Lonely
I DANCE: only with Barney
I SING: appalling, but with gusto and great joy
I CRY: at the movies, quietly but regularly
I AM NOT ALWAYS: the patient and cheerful person I try to be
I MAKE WITH MY HANDS: far less than Iwould like to
I WRITE: far less than I should
I CONFUSE: myself regularly
I NEED: more
I SHOULD: get off my ass and do something about it
I START: by trying to wake up
I FINISH: only sometimes

Another Melly tag that might just get me blogging again