365 Days

This is my 366th post to this blog.

That means that I’ve been writing on this blog every day for one year.

That means the challenge I set myself is complete.

…

WOO!!!!!

I’m actually kind of surprised – I managed to keep this blog going for an entire year without missing a single day (and trust me, there were some REALLY close calls). No, not every post was genius or brilliant or even worthwhile, but at least it was something.

I’ve really enjoyed having this blog. It’s given me a place to vent my feelings about one thing or another (usually movies or music or musical movies – or moving music, I suppose…) and to let my opinions be heard by all six of you readers out there.

I shouldn’t joke about you readers, because it’s meant a lot to me that you have been reading. Sincerely, thank you all for checking in with me along the way, and for leaving your own comments and opinions – I always got a lovely feeling whenever someone started following my blog, or when someone left a comment or anything like that, so thank you all so much.

It’s going to be weird tomorrow, realising that I don’t have to write a blog post, and I’ll probably wake up the day after in a surge of panic, thinking that I’d forgotten and completely failed everything… But I might keep updating every now and then, if I feel like there’s something I want to say.

I am going to eventually start up another blog, hopefully one that looks more professional/less-crap, but I’ll deliver updates about that when the time comes – I’ve got some ideas, people! So watch this space.

More specifically, I’d like to thank my mum, my dad, my brother and my girlfriend for constantly making sure I kept on track with this challenge. I’m pretty sure they must be sick of hearing the words ‘But I have to write a blog post!’ once every twenty four hours, but I appreciate all the support they gave.

And… Well, I’m not sure how to end things. Thank you, so long and thanks for all the fish, that’ll do, pig and…

Jim probably says it best.

Thank you everyone.

Magic Tournament

I accompanied my friend to a local Magic the Gathering tournament this evening and it was tremendous fun! It was interesting meeting new players and seeing how they played and what kind of decks they used.

I was rather proud with the outcomes of my matches:
First – Lost 2-0
Second – Drew 1-1
Third – Lost 2-1
Fourth – Won 2-0

I won four matches tonight and, to be honest, that’s four more than I thought I would. The second game was only a draw because we took way too long with the first two matches, and the third game was quite close the entire time.

My friend did a lot better, and ended up coming second over all. He too was surprised at this.

I think we may have to go back again and do even better next time!

Mandy Patinkin

Mandy Patinkin has to be one of the coolest people of all time. He is an outrageously talented singer, he played Inigo Montoya, he is well spoken enough to make Stephen Colbert speechless AND he can grow a mean beard.

We’re talking an awesomely mean beard.

He originated the role of George in Sunday in the Park with George, a production which I’ve been listening to a lot lately for a university assignment, and his voice and interpretation is just beautiful. He has so much controlled passion when he sings and gives everything his all – if you want proof of that, check out his version of ‘God-Why-Don’t-You-Love-Me Blues’ from Follies; it’s outrageously high energy.

Yesterday I bought an album of his, Mandy Patinkin Sings Sondheim, which had me sold on the name alone. Today, I’ve listened to about half of it, but my god, is it glorious. I could listen to him sing Sondheim for weeks. He flits from one song to the next, weaving in and out of melodies seamlessly. It’s brilliant.

If I were to nominate someone for ‘World’s Most Awesome Guy’, it’d probably be him.

Or Mel Brooks.

Always nominate Mel Brooks.

Studying Sondheim

I’ve just paused mid-sentence in writing an essay for university to mention the fact that I’m writing about Stephen Sondheim and quoting him as a reliable secondary source.

Hey, can you blame me? The man’s a genius word-smith, of course he’d be a perfect quote.

More Musicals!

Listening to new musicals while I work is always a great thing.

Curtains was great when David Hyde Pierce was singing, and had some other very nice moments, but on the most part it was kind of… meh. I’m sure it’d be fun to be in/watch, but it’s not one that really sticks with you.

La Cages aux Folles was wonderful, even if it makes me feel bad for liking it because it beat Sunday in the Park with George at the Tonys… It was deserving, though, even though I would have given it to Sondheim (big surprise).

You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown was nice…? Kinda? Maybe? I guess… To be honest, I got halfway through and then had an urge to listen to Sweeney Todd. Which I then did. And it was awesome. I may go back and listen to the second half of the album, or I may just listen to more Sweeney.

You’re always safe with Sweeney. The musical, not the person, I suppose.

The Gathering

One thing I love about being a Uni student is the complete and total removal of the ‘I’ve got to look cool in front of everyone and must dismiss all quote-unquote uncool pass-times’ thought in your mind that kind of dominated high school.

Which is why my mates at Uni got me a Magic: the Gathering starter deck for my birthday and convinced me to dust off my old Magic cards to start playing again.

You don’t realise how much you miss playing card games until you start playing them again – they’re quite awesome – and we all seem to be around the same skill level, which makes playing with each other much more fun, than being dominated by one person each round. Victory is earned by all, depending on how you draw.

Now I just need to convince them to play D&D and all will be well.

All Work

And no play causes me to make lame The Shining references.

Award Winning

Tonight were the Company awards for the community theatre company which I performed with in The Producers.

In reality, it was the Annual General Meeting for the committee, but it was a lovely wee night, where we celebrated the past year of shows.

I may have been awarded ‘Best Supporting Actor’, too…

But the important thing is that we all enjoyed the shows we were in and supported community theatre.

The awards were just a bonus. An awesome bonus, but a bonus none the less.

The Binding of Isaac

I’m totally getting into Indie games at the moment. I don’t think I’ve ever really been all about the ‘mainstream’ games – sure I’ve played my share of Call of Duty (I love the crap out of Nazi Zombies) and Halo and those types of games, but they’ve never really been my favourite – but I’ve never really delved into the real Indie area until the past year or so.

My introduction to some awesome Indie titles does come through the Humble Bundles, the idea of which I love, and while my initial interest into my first Bundle was through the game Psychonaughts, I’ve now decided to get the Indie Bundle each time it comes around, regardless of what’s on offer. There are some really interesting games out there.

The one that’s caught me at the moment is The Binding of Isaac, which beautifully combines random map generation with interesting, intense game-play. I love the idea that you are given very, very limited information about the maps that you’re playing, the enemies you fight and the items that you come across, without it being an annoying gimmick.

What I’m enjoying about Indie games is that they’re usually quite short, which means there’s no useless padding and we receive more concentrated quality immediately. They’re usually built on simple, yet interesting mechanics and, when they aim to tell a story, it’s done very effectively and in a minimalist fashion – an excellent story was told in Limbo, with absolutely no dialogue or context, it was thrilling.

I’d really love to just spend a couple of days doing nothing but playing Indie games, just to see the vast range that’s out there… Damn life, getting in the way of gaming and being antisocial…

Late Night

Getting into the house at 7:30 in the morning is a pretty awesome experience, I must admit. Especially after spending the entire night at an awesome cast party in a heated pool with the most awesome cast and crew people ever.

So I slept most of today… Sleep was great.