The Interesting Times

I love my friends: every couple of days when I try to read what you have posted at work, the web filter says "Weighted phrase limit exceeded" and won't allow it, allowing me to believe my social circle is somehow edgy and cool.

Okay, now a few important things: first, I bought a Tenacious D concert ticket today so if you thought you missed out, guess again punk and fork over your $80. (My credit card thinks I'm mad at the moment. Mad! But I have a cunning plan.)

Also, Impro Sundae returns on January 28 and the new permanent time of 5pm. So you can come even if you work on a Monday!

I bought a Tenacious D concert ticket today. Yes, this is important enough to be mentioned twice.

Finally, I'm going camping this weekend. Somewhere. It will be nerdy camping. We may bring boardgames and will certainly listen to Doctor Who audio adventures during the trip to get there. I will likely have my phone turned off most of the time, and I will be leaving my Gameboy at home (despite my newfound Pokémon addiction), so it's gonna be old-school outdoor type madness. Here's hoping we don't get completely rained on and/or burned alive. (Hello, brand new one litre pump pack of SPF 30+ sunscreen. You're my new best friend.)

I make no promises that the "12 Days of Christmas" malarkey below the cut makes any sense, though it certainly does use all the nerdiest things in my interests list. Kind of amusing that, for the refrain in the middle, it chose "Five Ben Folds"...

To all of those I won't see before I fly away to the Gold Coast (yes, I know, I know) for Christmas, have a lovely time. Rock your casbahs and I'll see you in the new year. ( Click here for stupidity. )

Big thanks to everyone who made it to Impro Sundae for my first turn hosting last night; everyone (me included) seems to agree that it went really well. So well, in fact, that I'll be hosting the first of our two final afternoon shows in December, so if you missed out, come on down at 5pm on Sunday 10th or 17th of December. It'll go off.

Oh, and just to make my day even more awesome, Wikipedia's featured article for today is Stegosaurus. Oh yeah. He's always been my favourite dinosaur. Tell me: what's yours?

So...what to report? Since the last entry, I have asked a girl out (she said no), decided not to go back to university this year (it's a slightly involved story, suffice to say it's not worth it right now), been drafted into full-time database application testing and documentation at my "administration" job (with no increase in pay), moved house (well, mostly, still a few things to do), been the first person eliminated in this year's Impro Rumble (though I played very well, if I do say so myself), and watched the penultimate episode of this year's season of Doctor Who (it's a blast, I am excited to see how it resolves).

I'll get around to writing something interesting and/or exciting in here once Internet connectivity is established at the new place. Though I will note I was excited to hear Nizlopi's UK hit single "JCB" playing over the tannoy in K-Mart on Monday; it's one o fmy favourite songs, and it seems to have got a local release in some fashion. The album, "Most Of These Songs Are About You", is great.

I really couldn't get my calendar right this weekend. First I thought the Eurovision final was Saturday, not Sunday. Then I thought a friend from out of town was comeing on Sunday night, when in fact it's next weekend. Between that and other plans being changed, it was a chaotic but busy time.

Saturday was, of course, the Zombie Shuffle, and it was awesome. I never planned to zombie up, mainly because I was going to a farewell do for a girl I haven't seen in a couple of years immediately after and it wasn't a crowd or venue open-minded toward alternative unlifestyles, but I was persuaded to come watch and it was enormous fun. Of course I thought of about six ideas for "zombie support" roles once I'd got into the car, including having a cricket bat (Shaun of the Dead style), a microphone (to be the "man on the scene" newscaster: "Amazing scenes in Melbourne today as dead walk the earth!") or my lab coat (and running through the streets warning people not to get bitten, screaming "What have I done?!"). I think I'm better suited to that sort of thing; the shuffle is cool, but horror films and zombies are things I love only because my friends love them so much, so the support role just feels right. Besides, I couldn't compete with the awesome zombiness of ejkf, paracelsus, sly_girl, schmycom, scoia and all of those who did their country proud by marching, zombie style, through both the Greek Festival and a Bridal Exhibition.

The Raw Comedy final was broadcast on the ABC on Saturday night, and if you saw it I hope you enjoyed Bec Hill; she's a friend of mine and, I think, a wonderful comedian. More than a few critics who reviewed the gig thought she shouldn't have walked away from the competition without at least an honorable mention, though I did think the winners were the best of the rest.

Today I had a lovely afternoon listening to music and then I went to Impro Sundae. This is the longest-running and most successful weekly impro show in Australia, and tonight, after a few weeks of attending the workshops to get my impro mojo working again, I finally got my shot at getting up on stage for the performance. It went really well, with a great crowd (in terms of size and response), and I'm excited about doing it again. Sorry I didn't publicize it, but I only knew I was doing it a couple of hours before I was on and I figured most of your would be watching Eurovision anyway. I'll let you know when I'm on next, probably next week or the week after that.

Oh, and thanks to two lovely ladies I have now discovered Augie March. Wow. They're good.

I got tonight off from flyering the Festival, which meant a mad scramble to see shows. I saw three, and then it was time for the Festival Club. All of it, everything that happened to me tonight, was awesome. I didn't drink a drop, but I felt happy as a loon. I'm sorry I didn't go to a party I was invited to, but not going tonight - and tomorrow - would be like ending a relationship without saying goodbye. This Festival has kept me going through some tough weeks and seen me into a new bit of my life and I will love it forever.

And yes, there's one day left. I'll be there. Will you?

Evolutionary: The Man in the Lab Coat Evolved
Ben McKenzie

The erudite science communicator serving up their subject with passion and humour has a long and honourable lineage both in and out of the classroom, and Ben McKenzie, aka the Man in the Lab Coat, does not let the side down.

In his Adelaide Fringe show 'Evolutionary' downstairs in the Lizard Lounge on Hindley Street, this "amateur scientician" led us through the story of life on Earth, cramming billions of years, into an hour or so.

For him, it is the ultimate 'Survivor', where the winning contestants' kids get to come back for the next episode. He also takes us on excursions into the life of Charles Darwin and the follies of the Creationists in their many mutations.

With a minimum of props - the blackboard, lectern, Cheezels and lab coat - and a warm and spirited delivery, Ben entertained and educated without dumbing down a fascinating and complex subject. And as a bonus, we had a few laughs, and a few humbling insights, on the journey.

Bookmark his web site http://labcoatman.com.au, and catch his next show if you get a chance. Maybe bring your class along.
Jonathan Goodfield

AEU Journal SA, Vol 38, No. 2, April 2006

Audiences have been enjoying the show, but numbers have been highly variable. Most nights have been quiet, a few like Wednesday only seeming full thanks to friends showing up. But tonight I have both a judge and a reviewer in the audience, so the pressure is on a little. Let's hope I can get a reasonable crowd along.

I think if I ever do this again, I will have a director, a producer, some publicity advice and a much better idea of the city and festival before I arrive. Touring is an expensive business...

Just to show me they appreciate their starring role in my show, a bunch of microorganisms have decided to swarm and multiply in my throat, first making their presence felt at 5am on the morning I left for Adelaide. I'm booked in to see a doctor today; we'll see how the little bastards do trying to evolve their way around some antibiotics...

In other news, the response to my emails to a couple of the universities here, advising academic staff they could have free tickets for the first few shows, has been overwhelming. So far there are about a dozen of them coming, some bringing paying family members and at least two considering bringing large groups of students. I think this is a win.

In addition to the 75 pre-booked tickets (though it may be more than that now - the laptop I'm using to access the Internet at the house doesn't have Acrobat Reader so I can't view my updated bookings), I'm warmed by everyone's advice that Adelaide crowds are keener than those in Melbourne and rarely book - so I should be able to expect some decent door sales (which is nice and healthy for the hip-pocket, since I don't pay the Fringe ticketing fees on those).

So, all in all, if my tonsils aren't eaten by germs I should have a successful show on my hands...

According to Virgin Blue's web site, the Adelaide Fringe is the second biggest fringe festival in the world. I'm guess Edinburgh gets the gold. Scary. But it also has good things to say about Adelaide Zoo, so I'll be going there. Public Transport in Adelaide seems pretty good, comparable to Melbourne in terms of price at least; they seem to be keen for people to use it, too. They even have trams there. (I think my internal benchmark for civilisation in a city involves trams in some form or another. Yeah, I know. I know.)

The owner of our house is thinking of selling; we've been asked our intentions past the lease. Let's hope he either decides not to sell, or sells to someone who wants to keep renting it, though the chances of the rent not going up by a lot if that happens are probably slim. I was hoping not to move again inside a year, and I really like this place, not to mention living with Darren and Emma...I'll keep my fingers crossed.