Instant image that comes to mind:
And Simon Pegg continues to make my weekend lol
Instant image that comes to mind:
And Simon Pegg continues to make my weekend lol
This gif can be applied to any fandom. I only found out about this little Pinto/Pegg/Cumberbatch outing today and LOVE the story.
[video]
[video]
Haven’t done a lot recently, but one thing I did do was finish off a godawful week with something great! I managed to actually get out of the office at lunchtime on Friday (after a MEGA work week) to bask in the sun with Amiee. After a little wander around trying to decide what to do (when it’s sunny it is LOVELY just to walk and chat and not have a care), we had a massive binge in Wagamama. Then we walked through Soho looking for a cafe with a table outside. Unfortunately it was packed and all the gays had taken up every little space. So we decided instead to head down to Brixton and scout out the venue.
Because, yes, we were going to see the Black Veil Brides. Let me be honest, I bought a ticket based on all the good word of mouth. I love a band with good WOM. That’s how I’ve discovered every band I’ve ever liked. Not TV, press, radio or anything, good WOM. And BVB attract the same type of audience that a lot of people I know from the old Tokio Hotel days. And I can never say no to pretty men in makeup.
I had intented to actually listen to some of their stuff in advance. I think I played their album a couple of times, but I can’t say with any confidence I know more than one or two of their songs vaguely. So the gig was going to be a make or break really.
We arrived in Brixton and, apart from the place being a bit of a scumhole of London, it was swarming with kids. Young kids. Like under 16. I felt ridiculously self-conscious. Even Amiee felt old and she’s about 10 years younger than me. That’s how OLD I was. :S
I don’t have anything against young people, of course. And there were plenty of mums and dads. And there were a few aging rockers in there too. There was a nice mix of boys and girls, which was good too. But ultimately I felt uncomfortable. A bit shit because a gig is where you should go to feel part of something together with like minded people. (That’s what I like about gigs anyway.) But, well, I guess the fact that I’m 15+ years older than most of the room really made a difference. Plus, I’m always worried I look like one of THOSE fans that all the kids take the piss out of because they’re old enough to be the band’s mother. Ahem.
Quickly realised I need to get very drunk to forget the massive age gap, so we ducked into the nearest old man pub. A few pints and a G&T later and I felt squiffy enough to handle it.
The support was crap. Didn’t get into them at all.
Black Veil Brides on the other hand….
Brixton wasn’t the best venue. I think the acoustics sucked because overall it was quite a mess of sounds at times. Some songs really stood out and I loved, but some I just couldn’t hear clearly. It wasn’t bad enough to ruin the experience, it was just a bit frustrating at times.
Visually - goddammit, what was with the lighting?? Couldn’t see their faces properly because there was a lot of shadowing and stuff. It was fine, but I would have liked to have had some spotlights on the band.
However, that said, what stage presence. I mean, really mesmerising in a good way. The music is maybe secondary to the visual at times, but imo they’re a package that works only as a whole. It’s a good whole. I really enjoyed the show. I wanted to be closer and right up there in the middle of it. Great stuff.
Basically, I have come away a fan and will be listening to their music more to really get to know them better.
I liked the way Andy spoke (despite the fact that I thought he was going to ask what our favourite scary movie is- what a voice lol), what the band stands for and what they bring to their fans. It’s a little like what please me about Gaga. And I was very happy to see that BVB support the Sophie Lancaster Foundation, a charity I have supported for years. (They are auctioning a signed print on ebay to raise money. Click.)
They fill the void that a few bands have missed out on. It helps, of course, that they’re all gorgeous. Particularly Andy who is in that league of beautiful androgygy that there just isn’t enough of in the world. The makeup both enhances it and distorts it - I like that. Lately pictures of him have shown a much more mature side vs the emo boy pictures from before. He looks lovely and like a real rock star.
Comparison pics under the cut.
Really quick and dirty run down of stuff I’ve done lately! I’ve been to the theatre four times in the last few weeks, so it’s worth me mentioning.
Saw Sleeping with Straight Men at the Stag a few weeks ago. As I’ve mentioned about Above the Stag before, the quality can be extremely variable in a frustrating way. Sometimes it’s a little gem of a play, with quality writing and acting. More often than not, now, unfortunately, it’s not. Sleeping with Straight Men is another such play that left us more than a little disappointed. Firstly, it’s worth mentioning the false advertising. It’s neither about Sleeping with Straight Men, nor does it bear any resemblance to the flyer:
Actually, the story is an over the top romp in which one extremely (cliched) camp gay man fancies his local waiter and is conviced to go on a chat show segment about secret admirers to let this guy know. The problem is, the guy is straight and has a girlfriend. He’s also a bit homophobic. The big reveal happens on TV, he gets angry, they go back to their hometown, drinking heavily on the way. Naughtiness ensues, followed by a tragic outcome.
The play explores nothing. It’s a very superficial story, the gay guy’s campness played for laughs and turned up to make you think: urgh, who’d want him to be your secret admirer anyway. His desperation to be on TV, or his apparent desire for the waiter, were just taken as a given without any thought to his motivations over both. The straight guy’s extreme reaction seemed out of character - his anger and homophobia weren’t explored in any depth.
I know the play is based on a real story and it’s sad that it doesn’t really do it justice. For example, I know that the original story was a guy telling his best friend that he’s in love with him. More realistic and impactful than a random crush on a waiter, right? Why the writer chose to go the comedy route, IDK. Added to that a few very pointless musical interludes by a drag queen and yeah…no.
Oh Stag, whatever shall we do with you?
Next up, Fragments (Session 3). I totally admit to only seeing this because Rupert Young (Sir Leon in Merlin) was in it. However, I was pleasantly surprised at the quality of the production. Fragments is a series of short plays aimed to showcase new and exciting writing to industry professionals. And fangirls. ;) And in this case, I think they really chose well.
The plays had one strong thread running through them - they were all dark comedies. They were very strong and thoughtful, well acted and compelling. I liked all of them, interestingly enough, and was impressed at the high standard.
Rupert was in the third short, loping on stage in boxers and a long cardy, his hair all over the place looking pretty yummy. He towered on stage, his long legs making him seem taller than he probably is.
The play was of a man struggling with inner demons. His wife getting to the end of her own sanity in dealing with his behaviour. The main crux of this short was that Rupert’s character threatens violence in a non-threatening way and it’s not taken seriously, instead creating an atmosphere of tension, the audience waiting for the snap that’s expected. It’s incredibly well done - I found myself on the edge of my seat waiting for that moment.
At one point, Rupert is describing his actions and the violence he wants to do to his wife and it’s chilling. Somehow he played the innocent and aggressor at the same time. I had buckets of sympathy for the character that was spewing hardcore violence at a women. Intense.
Great stuff. Interesting to see Sir Leon in a role that actually gets him doing more than standing around and giving a one-liner.
After the show, Rupert mingled with some Merlin fans he recognised, which made me cringe a bit. We hung out chatting for a bit. Stace got a kiss and then we left. I was ill - still am - and couldn’t face anything more.
Then there was Money in the Vault with Adetomiwa Edun.
The Old Vic Tunnels are pretty awesome if you haven’t been. They’re literally under Waterloo, so you can hear the trains rumbling overhead during performances. This time, another series of shorts exploring our past, present and future relationship with money.
The nitty gritty - it was kind of crap. I mean, let me be fair, I can see what was attempted in this collection, but the writing was pretty poor. Of the four, the play entitled ‘Often, Mud Sits Upon The Throne’ that Ade was in was by far the best, and that is not me being biased, I swear.
I won’t go into the plays individually, but ultimately they failed for a few reasons. The first started off pretty funny until it descended into some severe self-importance that made me cringe constantly. While documenting the history of money 1930s radio play style, the lights went out and a voice informed us that we’re really all secretly glad there’s the poor and lower classes. Yeah, thanks for that. I do like it when a play TELLS me what I think.
The second play was Ade’s and, while it wasn’t THAT much better in terms of writing, Ade’s performance was amazing. His was a monologue of about 15 minutes and in that time he was forced through a series of emotions. All the way through he was addressing the audience and I was impressed by how connected to the audience he was. His diction and ability to pull off a monologue like this really made me want to see him do this with text that I would actually enjoy - I could see him in a Shakespearean role for sure.
In terms of the text, it was ok. I’m not a big theatre critic, but I do go to a lot of stuff. I found this a bit obvious again, which is my main criticism of all the four plays. There was nothing subtle in any of them. The writing was relatively clunky and boring. Ade had some pretty amazing lines (a lot of swearing and what was I guess supposed to be shocking - a lot of cocks in arses, expressions of getting fucked, etc), but ultimately I think the script was quite weak.
Nonetheless, he is a great actor and really needs to do something else on stage to really show off that talent.
The other two plays ranged from incoherent and odd, to downright embarrassingly cheesy. I really wasn’t a fan. Additionally, it was lame IMO that they said one of the plays wasn’t going to happen due to technical difficulties, and then they ‘surprised’ us when it did actually start with two gun weilding theives. Naff.
This run of theatre has been delightfully saved by Tom Hiddleston. Yep, I went to Bedtime Stories at the Criterion and Tom Hiddleston, in a wife beater and looking all dirty and hot with those ARMS out, read me porn. It was probably the most delicious thing I’ve seen on stage in a while and, while I went in thinking he was okay and not really that attractive, I left a little bit in love, ngl.
The Bedtime Stories session was great. It started with Sarah Solemani and Russell Tovey reading Ovid’s The Art of Love, which was nothing short of hilarious. They had perfect timing and great chemistry. I absolutely loved their performance, which was broken up throughout the night into three sessions. I loved how they were having a laugh with it, along with the audience. It made it a much more immersive and enjoyable session.
Then there was Niamh Cusack, who read Angela Carter’s The Courtship of Mr Lyon. I don’t know if it was her or me, but at first I just wasn’t listening. I was thinking about other stuff, trying not to cough, etc, but gradually I got into it more and quite enjoyed it. An interesting take on the Beauty and the Beast story, but ultimately a bit dull. Niamh Cusack has quite a soft voice. Great for this type of fairytale story, but generally not projected enough so it was fairly soft. It wasn’t that I couldn’t hear her, but more that I wasn’t drawn in enough.
But the reason the 95% female audience was there was to hear Tom Hiddleston getting filthy and that’s what we got. Seriously. Tom read Tennesee Williams’ short story The Kingdom of Earth. He walzed onto the stage to some rather fangirly screams. I don’t think anyone was expecting the dirt, the wife beater, the hair, the arms…
His accent was flawless and he read like he was seducing the audience. He was open, honest and didn’t have a hint of self-consciousness about the text. He gave the pov character warmth and depth, but was amazing at taking on new mannerisms when slipping into the voice of other characters. Particularly the female character, which gave us all some laughs as he emulated a woman.
The problem with sharing the audience with fangirls was the sheer amount of tittering when he got graphic. And it was graphic at times. But there was even giggling just when he talked about the woman’s tits. Considering I’ve sat in the theatre numerous times when male and female nudity has been on full display and there’s been a dick inches from the end of my foot, etc, this was massively tame. I mean, it’s great when a famous actor you like gets involved in something different and reading this story is pretty graphic, but come on ladies.
It was great. I’m firmly in the Tom Hiddleston fan now, even though I think the only thing I’ve seen him in is War Horse. Great stuff.
Here’s a pic of Hiddles from that performance:
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AKA my weekend as an extra on ‘I Think, Therefore’.
Sorry for the lateness in posting. Came back to normal, everyday life with a bump!
If you had told me on Friday that I would be spending the weekend beingan extraa supporting artist in a film directed by Georgia King, starring Tom Hopper and Harry Melling, and time chatting to all of those people as well as Bradley James and Eoin Macken, I would have laughed in your face. Because, really? The chances?
Day one:
For all you Andrej Pejic fans out there, if you haven’t already visited AndrejPejic.co.uk, then you better get over there fast! It’s rammed full of interviews, videos and a gallery of over 4000 pics! You no longer need to trawl through pages of Tumblr posts to find that specific image of Andrej you’re looking for. You no longer have to think of the right search terms to find that video you want to watch again! It’s all there. Plus, you can also chat to fans on the forum, etc. You all know how fansites work, so go have a look!
AndrejPejic.co.uk are holding a launch competition! If you want to get your hands on one of Andrej’s official t-shirts, a copy of (the overpriced!) Schon magazine and more, head over the the facebook page: AndrejPejicUK. Easy competition and you could bag some cool goodies. (Open to anyone anywhere in the world!)
What are you waiting for??
I’m not gonna make this a long ass post about fan engagement because IMO it’s not rocket science and it’s not in the least bit surprising. But I do want to say something: most people (clueless music industry knobs included) will think that Lady Gaga’s success can be attributed to the high cost above the line marketing that she gets from her label where others don’t. It’s true that you can’t turn a corner without something Lady Gaga in your face, whether it’s her music on the radio/in a shop, a TV special or merchandising out for Xmas. But there is one thing that I think makes her stand out from the rest and it makes me love her.
A lot of people accuse Gaga of being spoonfed the things she says. That she is a marketing creation of the labels and I laugh. Through my experience of record labels (and I’ve had a bit over the years in different ways), I can safely say that they don’t have a clue about fan engagement and wouldn’t even have suggested that an artist pay such adoration to the fans. Label execs think they create music. That they are responsible for the rise and fall of artists. If they could keep the artist far away from the fans they would. They still think aloof works and that fans have no right to demand or criticise. Like we’re not the ones forking out every bit of money and time in our lives to the artist we admire and that we deserve a return on our investment.
That’s why it’s amazing that Gaga gets it. She cares about the fans waiting for 3 days in the snow for her and she invites them into the bus for a hot drink because she cares. She doesn’t think - lol stupid weird people queuing for 3 days whatever they can see me at the show. She sees fans that will do this every year for the rest of their lives if she gives them a reason to keep queuing.
I think Gaga is genuine. I think she cares about her fans because she’s knows they’re what makes her successful. And of any artist she knows how everyone, but especially young people, strive to belong, to feel important and part of the world. Gaga is pretty genius the way she has cared for and nurtured her fanbase. She’s the biggest artist in the world, yet the one with the closest relationship with her fans and a fanbase that loves each other. None of these things are coincidences.
I wanted to quote two things from what Gaga said in a recent interview because it spoke to me in many ways. When I compare the attitudes of other artists to her, I realise then why they fail and she continues to soar. It’s time for artists to stop seeing fans as $$ and more as part of their family with hopes and dreams and needs that they live through the music and their relationship with the artist.
Lady Gaga:
It’s pledging a certain allegience to your fanbase.
It’s not like “thanks for buying my record, fuck you”.
It’s like “thanks for buying my record and I will live and die and breathe my work and my art to protect your dreams. Because you protect mine.”
You can’t make records and then get to know your fans and just ignore the effect they’ve had on you. I always tell people that. They’ll be like: you always talk about your fans. I’m like: how could I not talk about my fans? They’re my family. They’re my whole reason now for everything.
(Source: youtu.be)
Other blogging people will understand this, but I do my best blogging in my head on the train, in the shower, sat in a boring meeting, etc etc. They never make it to this page. And this so called blog is a super waste of space anyway because I rarely make an update and it’s really just a diary of stuff I do. (Might as well go back to Live Journal!)
In the last week I’ve wanted to make several different updates. I wanted to review Parked, a fantastic independent Irish movie I’d been wanting to see for months. I wanted to talk about celebrities and social media and fan engagement and why Misha Collins is a genius. I wanted to post about recruitment agents and how badly they can suck the life out of you when you’re going through one of the hardest periods of your life. I wanted to talk about my time off and my ambitions for this next few weeks off (yeah, it’s not just about sitting on the sofa watching Poirot while my mum brings me cups of tea…maybe…). I wanted to talk about how embarrassing it is to sometimes have to stand next to the rude, unwashed cretins that are London’s ‘professional’ autograph hunters at a signing with an actor/writer/whatever you really admire and how much admiration I have for most celebrities and their patience in those situations. And of course I wanted to review the new season of Sherlock without spoilers. (I’m scared of Mark Gatiss, all right!)
But ultimately, all that stuff is going to take time and, although I’ve written all the posts in my head, I haven’t actually written them. Instead I’m just going to leave you with this awful picture of me and the lovely Benedict Cumberbatch, one of the most amazing actors I’ve had the pleasure of meeting/seeing/watching, etc. If you haven’t enjoyed his AMAZING Sherlock (what’s wrong with you??), then you might have caught him in Frankenstein alongside Johnny Lee Miller at the National, butt naked on stage. If you missed that, more fool you, it was amazing, but maybe you saw him in Tinker, Tailor, Whatever, It’s pretty boring.
Benedict’s head is cut off, as always happens when people take pics of me with tall people, because I’m so short. Hah. (And also because I kind of jumped Li and was like take pic now, kthx.)
“I would like to live in a world where your gender, nationality, sexual orientation, and, above all, financial status didn’t affect the opportunities you are given in life, the way you’re treated by others, and your overall freedom.” — Andrej Pejic (www.out.com)
(Source: andrejpejicpage, via andrejpejicpage)
Today I felt very privileged to be at the world premiere of Rufus Stone at Bournemouth University. As a former member of staff at BU, it was really wonderful to go back and see some of the amazing work that is still going on there.
Rufus Stone is the culmination of a 3 year research project entitled The Gay and Pleasant Land. The project is a study about positioning, ageing and gay life in rural England and was headed up by my former colleague Dr Kip Jones. Already an interesting research project, Kip has taken that and made it into something wonderfully accessible by all.
The question of dissemination of academic research is one that is maybe going through a bit of a change. Just as marketing, information and entertainment is changing with the Internet, so too is the landscape of academia. Lectures and dynamics between teacher and student are changing with new technologies and new ways of communicating. Kip has always been ahead of the game in that area.
To take an academic research project and bring it to film is an incredible achievement. To make people feel emotionally connected to it is doing the stories and the qualitative data more justice than most research receives.
As a movie fan, I was so excited to see the film. And knowing more about gay film and literature than the average straight girl, I was even more excited. I have to say, the film really exceeded my expectations. I have a lot of admiration for Kip’s work, and that of Josh Appignanesi, the director. They really brought to life something very special.
The film was beautifully shot. Sparse and quite compelling. I saw a feature length movie recently called Island (which coincidentally starred Nathalie Press, who also starred in one of Josh Appignanesi’s previous films) and the tone and atmosphere of that film was very similar. Both films are about life in rural settings and that isolation is really brought to life by little dialogue and beautiful cinematography.
Rufus Stone grabs you from the first instant. The way the relationship between Rufus and Flip is presented has a feeling of being both carefree and dangerous. I loved that the story wasn’t told in a linear way. Not only do we flashback at the beginning to Rufus and Flip’s youth, at different points in the story we get glimpses of both men as their younger counterparts, which is particularly touching. At one point, whilst the characters as their older selves are speaking off camera, we see the characters of their younger selves on screen relating that conversation to the audience in their body language. A great use of storytelling that really leaves a strong impression.
I think it’s those touches that really stand out to me. I would love to see it again with a different eye to really bring them all out.
There are moments in the film that I found terrifying, in particular Flip’s old mum. And there is a great amusing moment with Rufus’s snarky humour. Most of all, it’s just really touching and I found myself welling up a couple of times, with full on tears by the end of the film and that beautiful moment of longing at the end.
A wonderful triumph! I hope it does well at the film festivals. I know a lot of people who would really like it, so I hope one day I will be able to share it with them and they have the opportunity to see it.
And I hope that more researchers and academics embrace new ways of communicating with audience and disseminating their research. There are so many opportunities to engage and share and this is one of them.