Sunday, July 27, 2003
Here is a review of the same play where I was naked:
Reviews: Flaccid Willies or Big Dicks on Stage?
Posted on Thursday, 05 September @ 20:41:43 AET by Emma Nelms
review by Darren Brookes
Big Dicks on Stage by Stephen Dawson. Nash Theatre, Fortitude Valley, Brisbane.
29 August-21 September 2002
The Nash Theatre should be commended on presenting some fine quality work over the last few years. I have seen some excellent productions at this community-based venue. Last Thursday night I ventured out to see their latest production: Big Dicks on Stage. Being wary of the male member flaunted openly on stage ala Puppetry of the Penis, I did not really know what to expect. Big Dicks on Stage turned out to be a gay love story and a play within a play within a play. The narrative revolved around the central character Daniel, a forty something playwright and his two friends, a producer and a designer. This morose trio, working through their middle aged gay angst, meet to put on a play written by Daniel. In the meantime, the two male characters of Daniel’s show, fleshed out by Daniel, appear as a kind of work in progress. The action cuts between the play and the play within a play. This was a rather confusing use of plot device, as it was hard to follow the chronology of either arena. This could have been improved by a thorough rewriting of the script, as everything seemed a little too disjointed.
After the writer and his friends have cast the two young male leads, following a gruelling audition process of aged would be eccentric thespians (all played by the same actor in different guises), the play within a play continues with a relationship developing between the two young (ish) male actors on stage and off. Their relationship seemed kind of clichéd and not something that you would want to put on stage. The acting of the two young leads was wooden and the characters that they tried to portray ended up being rather two dimensional and not very interesting.
The writer meanwhile is feeling railroaded, as he originally intended to cast much older actors for the roles and is persuaded by his friends to choose young-uns and to have them do a nude scene, as that is the only way to attract a ‘gay’ audience. Hence, the ‘Big Dicks’ tag (I found this all a bit gaudy and embarrassing). As a result, the writer proceeds to drown his sorrows in the local gay club and meets Mr Right on the dance floor. His compatriots also seek solace in the bottle because the play is not going as it should, and the set designer has created a set too big for the stage doors. The same actor stars in three roles as the designer, a butch dyke stage manager and one of Daniel’s friends. These characters are all performed completely over the top and are meant to be the comic relief. The only real relief was the end (after over two hours of aimless dialogue)
Overall, Big Dicks on Stage turned out to be rather flaccid. I didn’t really understand what the purpose of it was, as there were too many themes competing for space, namely middle aged angst, middle aged love, young love, possessive lovers, theatrical calamity and so on.
Details
Big Dicks on Stage by Stephen Dawson
Directed by Michael McMahon
Reviews: Flaccid Willies or Big Dicks on Stage?
Posted on Thursday, 05 September @ 20:41:43 AET by Emma Nelms
review by Darren Brookes
Big Dicks on Stage by Stephen Dawson. Nash Theatre, Fortitude Valley, Brisbane.
29 August-21 September 2002
The Nash Theatre should be commended on presenting some fine quality work over the last few years. I have seen some excellent productions at this community-based venue. Last Thursday night I ventured out to see their latest production: Big Dicks on Stage. Being wary of the male member flaunted openly on stage ala Puppetry of the Penis, I did not really know what to expect. Big Dicks on Stage turned out to be a gay love story and a play within a play within a play. The narrative revolved around the central character Daniel, a forty something playwright and his two friends, a producer and a designer. This morose trio, working through their middle aged gay angst, meet to put on a play written by Daniel. In the meantime, the two male characters of Daniel’s show, fleshed out by Daniel, appear as a kind of work in progress. The action cuts between the play and the play within a play. This was a rather confusing use of plot device, as it was hard to follow the chronology of either arena. This could have been improved by a thorough rewriting of the script, as everything seemed a little too disjointed.
After the writer and his friends have cast the two young male leads, following a gruelling audition process of aged would be eccentric thespians (all played by the same actor in different guises), the play within a play continues with a relationship developing between the two young (ish) male actors on stage and off. Their relationship seemed kind of clichéd and not something that you would want to put on stage. The acting of the two young leads was wooden and the characters that they tried to portray ended up being rather two dimensional and not very interesting.
The writer meanwhile is feeling railroaded, as he originally intended to cast much older actors for the roles and is persuaded by his friends to choose young-uns and to have them do a nude scene, as that is the only way to attract a ‘gay’ audience. Hence, the ‘Big Dicks’ tag (I found this all a bit gaudy and embarrassing). As a result, the writer proceeds to drown his sorrows in the local gay club and meets Mr Right on the dance floor. His compatriots also seek solace in the bottle because the play is not going as it should, and the set designer has created a set too big for the stage doors. The same actor stars in three roles as the designer, a butch dyke stage manager and one of Daniel’s friends. These characters are all performed completely over the top and are meant to be the comic relief. The only real relief was the end (after over two hours of aimless dialogue)
Overall, Big Dicks on Stage turned out to be rather flaccid. I didn’t really understand what the purpose of it was, as there were too many themes competing for space, namely middle aged angst, middle aged love, young love, possessive lovers, theatrical calamity and so on.
Details
Big Dicks on Stage by Stephen Dawson
Directed by Michael McMahon
A BIT OF THE PAST
I created this diary during the process of performing in a play where I was required to be naked:
Sunday July 20th 2002.
Another day; a Sunday to be precise. Day of rest and recreation. Internally I am counting down to the end of the production of "Miracles" that I am in. That finishes on Saturday, 3rd August and I will be glad when it is over. But that is a story for another day, or days as the case may be. I'm also starting to look around at another acting project; me thinks me feet are getting restless.
Drew and I decided to go to "Sporties" for a drink this evening. While we were there drinking ourselves into oblivion, Michael Mouse and a guy called Alex turned up. A little bit of history here: I have known Michael Mouse since I first got involved with Nash Theatre at the beginning of 2002. He was involved in some capacity or other in the production of Safe Sex that was being put on the old Balfour Street premises of Nash Theatre, before they moved to their new premises at Brunswick Street in the Valley. Mouse has also been the director for the production of "Salome" which was put on earlier in the year, and was very successful, even thou I missed it. Silly me, because it was worth a look apparently. DOH! Anyways, we got talking, as Mouse has known Drew for a little while and those two had hit it off from when they first met. Mouse is the director a "Big Dicks on Stage" and has been having a devil of a time trying to find a main actor for the part. He had cast this young yummy thing called Matt, who quit quite early on after the rehearsals started, reason unknown...I had been thinking about the play but was a bit unsure about the nude acting thing. Anyways I said that I might like to have a look at the script and to my surprise Mouse said "sure." We agreed that I would come into the next rehearsal, which is on Tuesday nite, and have a read through of the script. I just imagined that Mouse would say no straight away.
Tuesday 22nd July 2002
I read for the part. Like the play, am nervous about the nude bits. Start rehearsing. Get more into it. Mouse is happy. See the script in it entirety and get surprised about how many lines there are for the part given to me.
Sunday July 27th 2002
Darren quits. His is the part of Daniel, the gay writer of the play. Not sure why he quit but he did. So the start of rehearsal wasn't that high for the guys. I wasn't needed for rehearsal today but had decided to sit in on it as I wasn't sure how the play went, apart form my own scenes of course. However before rehearsal Drew had Auditions for his little play "Much-Ado-About-Nothing" and I had decided to come in the morning to the theatre to assist him. So there I was when Brendan told me the news about Darren. I was a bit surprised and we weren't sure what to do next. 1/2 way through the morning a young guy called up the theatre wanting to know about any auditions that may have been coming up in the future. Brendan asked him to come along for a reading of the part of Daniel. Unfortunately when he arrived we realised that he was way too young; he was 19. Cute indeed, he was great eye candy, but the part needed to be done by someone that was about 30 or so. However after the audition of Drew's play there was a guy, friend of Brendan's that had done some work in the past with Nash. Mouse asked him to read for the part and we were really good. He takes on the part. It looks like we have a Daniel again!
Wednesday 30th July 2002
Stewart quits. Again not sure why he quit either. I believe he sited a personal reason which is weird because he had the script for a few days and had assured Mouse on Sunday that he would NOT quit the part at all and that he was fully committed to the role. The part of Daniel is left open. Three people read for the part including Alex's partner, Michael. Although he has little experience in acting, he has a natural instinct for the role and he looks just like a writer. He accepts. Now all I am nervous about is hell the hell he is going to learn the lines, there are lots of them for the character of Daniel.
Saturday 3rd August 2002
Blocking of "Two lonely hearts beat as one". We had planned to do the nude rehearsal today, which required Mouse to direct, but he is busy for the day with Michael who has just been cast in the role of Daniel. Joseph is a little annoyed; I try and calm him down by explaining that Mouse needs to spend the day with Michael as he is just getting involved wit h the project. Figured it would happen tomorrow. We ended up doing a lot of blocking of scenes with Jimmy and running some of the scenes without scripts, which was a bonus.
Sunday 4th August 2002
So the day has come to do the nude scene. Funny thing is that I am not at all nervous about it. Mouse slept in and was about 2 hours late. So Joseph Jimmy and I were locked out of the theatre until someone turned up about 1 1/2 hours later to let us into the theatre. Just after that Mouse turned up. We do the nude scene and it all goes well. Joseph is still kissing with his mouth closed, which is cool as I don't expect too much yet, but I will have to say something to Mouse about it. I didn't even get a hard on which is what I was expecting to happen. Got a semi, but it went away again. All was going well with the nude scene, which was a closed rehearsal; until Alex decided 1/2 way through that he needed to ask something of Mouse. Unfortunately he opened the door to the rehearsal space at time when we had just removed all our clothes, and I was feeling a little nervous about it. When I saw Alex appear at the door I got really pissed off. Mouse wanted us to do the scene again with the entire cast there, but I refused. I was angry most of the day about that.
Monday 5th August 2002
Total run through of the Play within the Play "Two lonely hearts beat as one"
Usually we do a rehearsal on Tues nite, but I was unable to this week as I have a Technical Rehearsal for Psycho Beach Party, which I am the Stage Manager for on Tues nite so I asked Mouse if we could rehearse on Monday instead. Jimmy, who is the director for "Two lonely hearts beat as one" had University tonite and he couldn't make it. So we walked through the "play within the play", we forget the blocking and Mouse prompted us. We did a couple of run throughs then Mouse had a surprise for us. He had organised for a Male Stripper to come in and show us a lap dance. He's yummy! The reason for this is that Joseph and I do a lap dance at the start of the play. I think its keel, Joseph freaks. The Male Stripper had no idea what was going on in that theatre and keeps referring to what he does with women.
Wednesday 7th August 2002
Tonite we were scheduled to do a double-speed-run through of the script, with all the actors there. Unfortunately Michael (Daniel) and Joseph (and Actor 1) didn't turn up, so we were unable to do that. Michael was at home sick with the flu, and Joseph is involved with filming a movie this week, and was called in at the last minute to do that. Unfortunately he didn't let Mouse know so we waited around for about 1 1/2 hours, Alex then left and I ran lines with Jimmy for the evening. Not that productive cast wise, but useful for me. There is another speed-run-through scheduled for this Saturday. Wasn't that pleased that not everyone was there, but I didn't throw a tantrum for a change? LOL. Its kewl, there are a few areas in the script that I am not that familiar with and I need to do some work on it tomorrow, including looking that the "internal dialogue" in the second act. Need to be better for the double-speed-run thorough on Saturday morning.
Saturday 10th August 2002
Double-Speed-Run Thorough without Script
Mouse is sick and stays away. WE are locked out of the theatre for about 1/2 hours because Brendan sleeps in and he is the only one with a key. The landlord finally lets us in. Brendan arrives 2 hours late; he slept in. We do a speed run sitting on the stage in the theatre; it turns into a slow run, as people don't know their lines, including me. We break then try again, this time walking around the stage when it is our time to be onstage. Works much better.
Sunday 11th August 2002
Incorporate Music
Mouse is still really sick. He can’t even get out of bed, and has a very high temperature, so he didn't come to rehearsal at all. Jimmy is the director for the day. I am really tired after being up till 3am with the Psycho Beach performance, two nites in a row. The show didn't go that long, but the after party stuff did. Joseph is 45 mins late, which pisses everyone off. Jimmy (AD) decides that he is going to give us the sound cues today, and all the music is on a tape, so it takes ages to find every track. Finally, 1.5 hours later, we start rehearsal, which today Jimmy decides will be a run thru of lines onstage while we are drawing something. Let me explain: when someone has lines they are required to be onstage and drawing something, when they don't have lines, they are to be in the audience and not drawing. The whole idea is to get us saying our lines without thinking about what we are saying. All well and good if everyone knows there lines, however Joseph didn't and we would just get on a roll and he would come unstuck. I'm not perfect with lines I admit, but I had about 90% of it down. Gave me a good idea where my cues are to be onstage anyway, and did help with lines. Joseph needs to do some work on learning his. Speaking of lines...bloody Michael was pretty impressive: he has only had the script for about a week and he almost knows all of his lines. And he has a ton of lines as well. Let’s see what Tues nite brings, eh?
Tuesday 13th August 2002
All of ACT 1
We end up doing a whole run through of the play on the stage. Not that good as we are not sure of where we are supposed to enter on our cues. But all in all not a bad try for a first run through. WE are all pretty shocking on our lines, except for Michael who seems to be on top of it all he really. The evening didn't start well with some bad news and got worse after that. WE were told by the Production Manager that we wouldn't be able to show our dicks onstage as there is some archaic law in Qld that forbids the exposure of penis's on stage, without the proper licence which we should have tried to get for the show about 3 months ago. I blame Nash totally for that stuff up. They didn't think ahead at all on that one! It’s too late now for a licence and it stuffs up some of the play as we are required to be nude, which we can't do. It’s not so much the nude scene, as the fact that we are showing our cocks, which is illegal in Qld without the correct licence. Sooo bizarre! Suffice to say noon was at all pleased with that piece of news! We rehearsed anyway and at the end were all pretty unhappy. Alex decided at the end of the run through to advice us of what we were doing wrong; Joseph was about 1/2 hour late and didn't seem to know 1/2 the script which was very frustrating. On top of that Either Joseph or I could remember any of the blocking that we were shown about a week ago. Jimmy the AD has asked that we do a few extra hours with him over the weekend and on next Monday to tighten the Actor 1 and Actor 2 stuff that we are not familiar with. I'm kewl with that. I came home feeling very pissed off about the whole thing. I am over it all now thou.
Wednesday 14th August 2002
All of Act 2
We did a quick (god it was fast) run through of Act 2 tonite, which went well. Joseph was much better on his lines tonite and it all went very well. WE then had a brake and the other guys organised a fight scene that they are in while Joseph and I went into the foyer and ran through some lines. WE were going to do another run through of Act 2 but Mouse wasn't feeling at all well, so he went home. With 40 mins left, Jimmy decided to go through some blocking with us of a scene, which worked out really well, and we got some really good work done in that time. Joseph is really good to work with; he talked direction well and really tries, once he knows what he is doing. WE found out that the final scene that we are in can still be done naked, as long as we don't show our genitals to the audience. WE have a Cherry Liquor box that covers our genitals so it should work out all right for that scene. So I still get to be nude on stage.... Alex is still a bit bossy but I am ignoring that at this stage.... We needed a good run through to gel the team again, and we got that tonite.
Saturday 17th August 2002
All of Act 1
The day started off well, with almost everyone except Alex and Michael turning up early for rehearsal. Our first run thru of Act 1 was simply awful. Now there are a number of reasons for that including the fact that it is not very often that we have done the whole 1/2 of the play with us as Actor 1 and 2 staying on stage, as well as knowing the cues of when to come on and go off and when to talk onstage as there are scenes where Joseph and I are frozen onstage, so we weren't quite sure when to start talking when we were supposed to and all that stuff. Also we incorporated the music into the rehearsal today for the first time so we were getting used to that as well. Knowing when the music started and fro how long and what track was for what was quite confusing for all of us. The biggest speed bump that we experienced was that we also rehearsed the nude scene, which is just b4 interval in the first Act. Both Joseph and I were under the impression that because of the recent news we would not be doing the nude scene anymore, and as such didn't need to rehearse it. However when we started doing it today for the first time, just before the nude scene I stopped everything and asked Mouse if he still wanted us to get naked. He said yes, I was thrown, Joseph was pissed off because for some reason he prefers to do it with boxers on under his jeans and he was wearing briefs that day, and on it went. So I go naked and Joseph got down to his briefs. It felt strange as the entire cast was there, minus the stage manager (who is a woman), but we did it. At first I just thought it was a perve factor for the crew, but I soon lost that thought, as that was just irrational. After the first run through we had a break and Mouse came up too Joseph and I and checked to see if everything was ok. We said we weren't sure what was happening with that scene, as we knew that we could now not show our genitalia onstage. Mouse apologised for the poor communication on his part and explained that he still wanted us to rehearse that scene naked so we were used to it as we would pretty much be naked onstage during performance anyway. Once that was explained we were cool. I also chatted to Joseph and got him to change into some boxers’ shorts that we are using as costumes in the play.
The other amazing thing that happened with the first run thorough is that during the lap dance Joseph and I are supposed to pash (with tongue) onstage. He did it first time, without a problem.
The second run through went a lot better as we were all familiar with our cues and what was happening. There was more energy and it felt really good. I even cried during one of the scenes that I have with Joseph as Actor 1.
After the second run through everyone went home except Joseph and me and we worked with the Associate Director (Jimmy) on the blocking for some of the scenes for Actor 1 and 2. That went well, and we did that for an hour, as there were some scenes that needed work, which we concentrated on. The problem now is remembering the blocking the Jimmy gave us today. I was particularly impressed with how easily I remembered the lines. Hardly asked for a prompt at all.
Sunday 18th August 2002
All of Act 2
Today is no prompting day, so that we can get used to helping each other out.
Joseph and I started off by having extra rehearsal time with Jimmy (AD), to knock out some of the blocking for the Actor 1 and 2 scenes that he wanted done. So Joseph and I came in 2 hours early and did that with Jimmy. Was pretty time consuming, as he is very fussy about what he wants from a scene and from single lines as well? After two hours of that we were both pretty tired. Then the other cast members arrived and we started doing a run through of Act 2. We were all pretty flat and in one scene that Joseph and I are in we completely forgot where we were. Managed to get out of it, but there was some awkward moments in the scene. The weirdest thing was standing in the wings in the nude, waiting to do onstage for the final scene. Felt very strange being naked and chatting about things as we both waited to go onstage. The other scenes we did went really well. After a quick break and some feedback form the Director, including the fact that we were all very quiet and didn't have much projection, we tried a run through again. Much better this time and very few mistakes. The second act is very quick, about 30 mins. There is one scene that we have no clue on that we need to sort out with Mouse. So we are both coming in early on Tues nite to do that. Finished at 5pm after an arduous 5 hours of rehearsing. Mouse is apparently seeing a Barrister on Mon nite about how he can get around this nude problem. We will wait and see.
Tuesday 21st August 2002
Whole Play Run Through
We came in early tonite to sort out the scene we need to with Mouse. Didn't take long as he quickly told us what he wanted and that is to make it bigger than life. HE also suggested that we use a lot more of the stage. He got us to run through it a couple of times once we had done the changes and it felt allot better. Since the stage is being used for a performance tonite, which was paid for by someone from outside the theatre, we opted for a speed run through of our lines. Unfortunately it wasn't really a speed run through, and more like a crawl through. I tried to speed things up but it didn't really help and the Stage Manager eventually told me off. I found that I was about 99% ok with my lines. Joseph, on the other hand, made a lot of mistakes. That is concerning me a little.
Wednesday 21st August 2002
Will anyone ever be on time? Ales and Michael were late tonite, about 1/2 an hour. But this was the nite that I got very pissed off. We were supposed to rehearse as usual at 7pm, when in came Tamara Tonite for an interview. Not a problem, we need the promotion, but it took about an hour so by the time we actually started it was about 8-8.30. As we were doing a full run I knew it was going to be a late nite. No that is ok, if we were told in advance, but we weren't. We also have no clue as to what Mouse plans to do with the nude scene, and that is getting on my nerves. Mouse and Joseph were interview, and it was going well until TAMARA asked Mouse if we were indeed going to be naked. "Yes" he replies. I couldn't believe it! What is he doing I thought to myself. Anyways, with that finished and me a bit pissed off, we began the rehearsal, late. Now, I was really tired from working all day and with a late rehearsal I was doomed to failure. And I was. I screwed up lines, forgot which scene I was in and got totally lost in the nude scene, thinking that we weren't at that point yet, so that when I went to say my lines I forgot them. WE jumped pages in that scene as I struggled to find my way back to where we should have been. WE got through it but it was a very quick scene. The poor sound guy was totally unprepared for us to jump so far, but he managed to cope. All in all a very bad rehearsal. I got home very late and was very pissed off with the whole process. IF there isn't a resolution on the nude scene issue by Sat I am not taking off any clothes. I need to know what the hell is going on?
Saturday 24th August 2002
Run Through x2
The day starts off well, however it did go down hill after that. Mouse gave us the news that he has been given the go ahead to do that nude scene, in the nude, if we want to. There is no problem with that. SO what was the problem? It seems that the Liquor Licensing Authority was under the assumption that the play was being held in the foyer of the theatre, which is where the drinking license is approved. If that were the case we would have had to have an Adult Entertainment License. However since the play, and us being nude in it, is being done in the Auditorium of the Theatre, where there is no license, and then there is no problem. 2 weeks of hassle for nothing. So we are going nude. I am so used to it now that it doesn't worry me in the least. We were supposed to do 2 run throughs today, however Michael and Alex were late, and Jimmy wanted to talk to Joseph and I about our performance on Wed nite, which he did by giving us notes on what areas we need to improve in. So we only got one run through in, and that was a pretty bad practice/rehearsal but not as bad as Wed nite. I dint know where the hell Joseph was at today, but he was certainly off. We missed a scene because of him, and he kept drying onstage and forgetting his lines. Tested my ability I can tell you. I even fed him a few of his lines in the nude scene to get him back on track. Generally I was better with my lines, but my energy was all off because of Joseph. Found it hard to concentrate. Apparently after the rehearsal Mouse had a big talk to Joseph, which was needed. No idea what was said, but apparently it was all good. Quite a bizarre day
Sunday 25th August 2002.
Tech/Cue to Cue and Full Run Through?
The day started off fairly well. Jimmy asked Joseph and me to come in early to work out some blocking for the "Noel Coward" scene, which is scene 3. It went very well, unlike the rest of the day. Joseph must have done some work on his script last nite because he was totally on top of his lines today, especially in the scene that Jimmy got us to block. I was most impressed. I felt allot happier once that scene had been worked out, as this was the last time that we would be working with Jimmy. Jimmy also mentioned about what he wanted from the "Two lonely hearts beat as one" portion of the play. I used the opportunity to cement any doubts I had about what we were doing on stage, which weren’t that many for me. Unfortunately I was really tired after getting to bed at about 1.30am, after doing the sound for "Psycho Beach Party." So I found that at times I was struggling for lines. On the train on the way into the theatre this morning I went over the script, especially the nude scene and corrected the places that I felt I was saying the wrong lines in that scene. That seemed to help. Mouse arrived about 12pm as well, to do the set and lighting stuff for the play. Unfortunately because of the complexity of the play, that took a bit longer than he had anticipated. So we didn’t get to do any cue-to-cue stuff, which is now scheduled for tomorrow nite. Instead we, as a cast, went through the script by doing a line run through. It was supposed to be a speed run through, but for some reason that never happened and we ended up doing it at normal speed. I started well, and got to the nude scene, then seemed to hiccup. I think I am starting to feel the pressure a bit, as I went quieter and quieter as the second act unfolded. I got very pissed off with myself, and am still very annoyed at myself for stuffing up so many lines. I have been over the script I don't know how many times and I am still not getting it all right. So tomorrow, as I am not working, I will spend some of the day on the god dam script again. Mouse noticed I was quiet and had a chat to me afterwards, and I did say to him that it is nothing that I can quantify; I was just starting to feel the pressure a bit. He suggested that I write out the script, which I will try doing tomorrow. I should be less tough on myself I guess. I also doubt my own ability to do this, which is a common thing with me. I have a tough exterior, but really on the inside I am all Marshmallow. Mouse and Jimmy also showed us a change that they were doing on the stage, because of "Psycho Beach Party" which is playing for an extra two weeks on the same stage, late at nite. That won't affect us too badly; I just have to get my head around it all. Joseph and I also worked on how to sort out the sheet problem in the bed scene. In that scene we have no shirt on and a sheet wrapped around us. What was happening was that when I bend down to simulate sucking off Joseph, my butt could be seen out of the sheet, ruining the illusion. We think we have resolved it. We shall see at the next rehearsal. I think I am really tired, and when I am like this I get very precious, which is how I feel at the moment. Let’s just say 7 hours at the theatre takes it toll.
Monday 26th August 2002
Cue-to-Cue (revised)
We spent quite a bit of time waiting around tonite, but as this was the techies rehearsal and not ours, that was ok. I went through my lines with a couple of people and was surprised that I was pretty much spot on with them. Unfortunately Joseph pissed me off a bit as he is a bit of a worry Nelly. He seemed to be unsure about what we were supposed to be doing, and what scene was next. We were going to do a speed-run as well, on stage, but we just ran out of time. I fell a lot more confidant than I did on Sun. Mouse has changed the music for the lap dance, and we walked through it tonite, but it is still not working. Joseph isn’t going into the audience to get someone now, it’s just me, and it would have been nice to have been told this before tonite???
I created this diary during the process of performing in a play where I was required to be naked:
Sunday July 20th 2002.
Another day; a Sunday to be precise. Day of rest and recreation. Internally I am counting down to the end of the production of "Miracles" that I am in. That finishes on Saturday, 3rd August and I will be glad when it is over. But that is a story for another day, or days as the case may be. I'm also starting to look around at another acting project; me thinks me feet are getting restless.
Drew and I decided to go to "Sporties" for a drink this evening. While we were there drinking ourselves into oblivion, Michael Mouse and a guy called Alex turned up. A little bit of history here: I have known Michael Mouse since I first got involved with Nash Theatre at the beginning of 2002. He was involved in some capacity or other in the production of Safe Sex that was being put on the old Balfour Street premises of Nash Theatre, before they moved to their new premises at Brunswick Street in the Valley. Mouse has also been the director for the production of "Salome" which was put on earlier in the year, and was very successful, even thou I missed it. Silly me, because it was worth a look apparently. DOH! Anyways, we got talking, as Mouse has known Drew for a little while and those two had hit it off from when they first met. Mouse is the director a "Big Dicks on Stage" and has been having a devil of a time trying to find a main actor for the part. He had cast this young yummy thing called Matt, who quit quite early on after the rehearsals started, reason unknown...I had been thinking about the play but was a bit unsure about the nude acting thing. Anyways I said that I might like to have a look at the script and to my surprise Mouse said "sure." We agreed that I would come into the next rehearsal, which is on Tuesday nite, and have a read through of the script. I just imagined that Mouse would say no straight away.
Tuesday 22nd July 2002
I read for the part. Like the play, am nervous about the nude bits. Start rehearsing. Get more into it. Mouse is happy. See the script in it entirety and get surprised about how many lines there are for the part given to me.
Sunday July 27th 2002
Darren quits. His is the part of Daniel, the gay writer of the play. Not sure why he quit but he did. So the start of rehearsal wasn't that high for the guys. I wasn't needed for rehearsal today but had decided to sit in on it as I wasn't sure how the play went, apart form my own scenes of course. However before rehearsal Drew had Auditions for his little play "Much-Ado-About-Nothing" and I had decided to come in the morning to the theatre to assist him. So there I was when Brendan told me the news about Darren. I was a bit surprised and we weren't sure what to do next. 1/2 way through the morning a young guy called up the theatre wanting to know about any auditions that may have been coming up in the future. Brendan asked him to come along for a reading of the part of Daniel. Unfortunately when he arrived we realised that he was way too young; he was 19. Cute indeed, he was great eye candy, but the part needed to be done by someone that was about 30 or so. However after the audition of Drew's play there was a guy, friend of Brendan's that had done some work in the past with Nash. Mouse asked him to read for the part and we were really good. He takes on the part. It looks like we have a Daniel again!
Wednesday 30th July 2002
Stewart quits. Again not sure why he quit either. I believe he sited a personal reason which is weird because he had the script for a few days and had assured Mouse on Sunday that he would NOT quit the part at all and that he was fully committed to the role. The part of Daniel is left open. Three people read for the part including Alex's partner, Michael. Although he has little experience in acting, he has a natural instinct for the role and he looks just like a writer. He accepts. Now all I am nervous about is hell the hell he is going to learn the lines, there are lots of them for the character of Daniel.
Saturday 3rd August 2002
Blocking of "Two lonely hearts beat as one". We had planned to do the nude rehearsal today, which required Mouse to direct, but he is busy for the day with Michael who has just been cast in the role of Daniel. Joseph is a little annoyed; I try and calm him down by explaining that Mouse needs to spend the day with Michael as he is just getting involved wit h the project. Figured it would happen tomorrow. We ended up doing a lot of blocking of scenes with Jimmy and running some of the scenes without scripts, which was a bonus.
Sunday 4th August 2002
So the day has come to do the nude scene. Funny thing is that I am not at all nervous about it. Mouse slept in and was about 2 hours late. So Joseph Jimmy and I were locked out of the theatre until someone turned up about 1 1/2 hours later to let us into the theatre. Just after that Mouse turned up. We do the nude scene and it all goes well. Joseph is still kissing with his mouth closed, which is cool as I don't expect too much yet, but I will have to say something to Mouse about it. I didn't even get a hard on which is what I was expecting to happen. Got a semi, but it went away again. All was going well with the nude scene, which was a closed rehearsal; until Alex decided 1/2 way through that he needed to ask something of Mouse. Unfortunately he opened the door to the rehearsal space at time when we had just removed all our clothes, and I was feeling a little nervous about it. When I saw Alex appear at the door I got really pissed off. Mouse wanted us to do the scene again with the entire cast there, but I refused. I was angry most of the day about that.
Monday 5th August 2002
Total run through of the Play within the Play "Two lonely hearts beat as one"
Usually we do a rehearsal on Tues nite, but I was unable to this week as I have a Technical Rehearsal for Psycho Beach Party, which I am the Stage Manager for on Tues nite so I asked Mouse if we could rehearse on Monday instead. Jimmy, who is the director for "Two lonely hearts beat as one" had University tonite and he couldn't make it. So we walked through the "play within the play", we forget the blocking and Mouse prompted us. We did a couple of run throughs then Mouse had a surprise for us. He had organised for a Male Stripper to come in and show us a lap dance. He's yummy! The reason for this is that Joseph and I do a lap dance at the start of the play. I think its keel, Joseph freaks. The Male Stripper had no idea what was going on in that theatre and keeps referring to what he does with women.
Wednesday 7th August 2002
Tonite we were scheduled to do a double-speed-run through of the script, with all the actors there. Unfortunately Michael (Daniel) and Joseph (and Actor 1) didn't turn up, so we were unable to do that. Michael was at home sick with the flu, and Joseph is involved with filming a movie this week, and was called in at the last minute to do that. Unfortunately he didn't let Mouse know so we waited around for about 1 1/2 hours, Alex then left and I ran lines with Jimmy for the evening. Not that productive cast wise, but useful for me. There is another speed-run-through scheduled for this Saturday. Wasn't that pleased that not everyone was there, but I didn't throw a tantrum for a change? LOL. Its kewl, there are a few areas in the script that I am not that familiar with and I need to do some work on it tomorrow, including looking that the "internal dialogue" in the second act. Need to be better for the double-speed-run thorough on Saturday morning.
Saturday 10th August 2002
Double-Speed-Run Thorough without Script
Mouse is sick and stays away. WE are locked out of the theatre for about 1/2 hours because Brendan sleeps in and he is the only one with a key. The landlord finally lets us in. Brendan arrives 2 hours late; he slept in. We do a speed run sitting on the stage in the theatre; it turns into a slow run, as people don't know their lines, including me. We break then try again, this time walking around the stage when it is our time to be onstage. Works much better.
Sunday 11th August 2002
Incorporate Music
Mouse is still really sick. He can’t even get out of bed, and has a very high temperature, so he didn't come to rehearsal at all. Jimmy is the director for the day. I am really tired after being up till 3am with the Psycho Beach performance, two nites in a row. The show didn't go that long, but the after party stuff did. Joseph is 45 mins late, which pisses everyone off. Jimmy (AD) decides that he is going to give us the sound cues today, and all the music is on a tape, so it takes ages to find every track. Finally, 1.5 hours later, we start rehearsal, which today Jimmy decides will be a run thru of lines onstage while we are drawing something. Let me explain: when someone has lines they are required to be onstage and drawing something, when they don't have lines, they are to be in the audience and not drawing. The whole idea is to get us saying our lines without thinking about what we are saying. All well and good if everyone knows there lines, however Joseph didn't and we would just get on a roll and he would come unstuck. I'm not perfect with lines I admit, but I had about 90% of it down. Gave me a good idea where my cues are to be onstage anyway, and did help with lines. Joseph needs to do some work on learning his. Speaking of lines...bloody Michael was pretty impressive: he has only had the script for about a week and he almost knows all of his lines. And he has a ton of lines as well. Let’s see what Tues nite brings, eh?
Tuesday 13th August 2002
All of ACT 1
We end up doing a whole run through of the play on the stage. Not that good as we are not sure of where we are supposed to enter on our cues. But all in all not a bad try for a first run through. WE are all pretty shocking on our lines, except for Michael who seems to be on top of it all he really. The evening didn't start well with some bad news and got worse after that. WE were told by the Production Manager that we wouldn't be able to show our dicks onstage as there is some archaic law in Qld that forbids the exposure of penis's on stage, without the proper licence which we should have tried to get for the show about 3 months ago. I blame Nash totally for that stuff up. They didn't think ahead at all on that one! It’s too late now for a licence and it stuffs up some of the play as we are required to be nude, which we can't do. It’s not so much the nude scene, as the fact that we are showing our cocks, which is illegal in Qld without the correct licence. Sooo bizarre! Suffice to say noon was at all pleased with that piece of news! We rehearsed anyway and at the end were all pretty unhappy. Alex decided at the end of the run through to advice us of what we were doing wrong; Joseph was about 1/2 hour late and didn't seem to know 1/2 the script which was very frustrating. On top of that Either Joseph or I could remember any of the blocking that we were shown about a week ago. Jimmy the AD has asked that we do a few extra hours with him over the weekend and on next Monday to tighten the Actor 1 and Actor 2 stuff that we are not familiar with. I'm kewl with that. I came home feeling very pissed off about the whole thing. I am over it all now thou.
Wednesday 14th August 2002
All of Act 2
We did a quick (god it was fast) run through of Act 2 tonite, which went well. Joseph was much better on his lines tonite and it all went very well. WE then had a brake and the other guys organised a fight scene that they are in while Joseph and I went into the foyer and ran through some lines. WE were going to do another run through of Act 2 but Mouse wasn't feeling at all well, so he went home. With 40 mins left, Jimmy decided to go through some blocking with us of a scene, which worked out really well, and we got some really good work done in that time. Joseph is really good to work with; he talked direction well and really tries, once he knows what he is doing. WE found out that the final scene that we are in can still be done naked, as long as we don't show our genitals to the audience. WE have a Cherry Liquor box that covers our genitals so it should work out all right for that scene. So I still get to be nude on stage.... Alex is still a bit bossy but I am ignoring that at this stage.... We needed a good run through to gel the team again, and we got that tonite.
Saturday 17th August 2002
All of Act 1
The day started off well, with almost everyone except Alex and Michael turning up early for rehearsal. Our first run thru of Act 1 was simply awful. Now there are a number of reasons for that including the fact that it is not very often that we have done the whole 1/2 of the play with us as Actor 1 and 2 staying on stage, as well as knowing the cues of when to come on and go off and when to talk onstage as there are scenes where Joseph and I are frozen onstage, so we weren't quite sure when to start talking when we were supposed to and all that stuff. Also we incorporated the music into the rehearsal today for the first time so we were getting used to that as well. Knowing when the music started and fro how long and what track was for what was quite confusing for all of us. The biggest speed bump that we experienced was that we also rehearsed the nude scene, which is just b4 interval in the first Act. Both Joseph and I were under the impression that because of the recent news we would not be doing the nude scene anymore, and as such didn't need to rehearse it. However when we started doing it today for the first time, just before the nude scene I stopped everything and asked Mouse if he still wanted us to get naked. He said yes, I was thrown, Joseph was pissed off because for some reason he prefers to do it with boxers on under his jeans and he was wearing briefs that day, and on it went. So I go naked and Joseph got down to his briefs. It felt strange as the entire cast was there, minus the stage manager (who is a woman), but we did it. At first I just thought it was a perve factor for the crew, but I soon lost that thought, as that was just irrational. After the first run through we had a break and Mouse came up too Joseph and I and checked to see if everything was ok. We said we weren't sure what was happening with that scene, as we knew that we could now not show our genitalia onstage. Mouse apologised for the poor communication on his part and explained that he still wanted us to rehearse that scene naked so we were used to it as we would pretty much be naked onstage during performance anyway. Once that was explained we were cool. I also chatted to Joseph and got him to change into some boxers’ shorts that we are using as costumes in the play.
The other amazing thing that happened with the first run thorough is that during the lap dance Joseph and I are supposed to pash (with tongue) onstage. He did it first time, without a problem.
The second run through went a lot better as we were all familiar with our cues and what was happening. There was more energy and it felt really good. I even cried during one of the scenes that I have with Joseph as Actor 1.
After the second run through everyone went home except Joseph and me and we worked with the Associate Director (Jimmy) on the blocking for some of the scenes for Actor 1 and 2. That went well, and we did that for an hour, as there were some scenes that needed work, which we concentrated on. The problem now is remembering the blocking the Jimmy gave us today. I was particularly impressed with how easily I remembered the lines. Hardly asked for a prompt at all.
Sunday 18th August 2002
All of Act 2
Today is no prompting day, so that we can get used to helping each other out.
Joseph and I started off by having extra rehearsal time with Jimmy (AD), to knock out some of the blocking for the Actor 1 and 2 scenes that he wanted done. So Joseph and I came in 2 hours early and did that with Jimmy. Was pretty time consuming, as he is very fussy about what he wants from a scene and from single lines as well? After two hours of that we were both pretty tired. Then the other cast members arrived and we started doing a run through of Act 2. We were all pretty flat and in one scene that Joseph and I are in we completely forgot where we were. Managed to get out of it, but there was some awkward moments in the scene. The weirdest thing was standing in the wings in the nude, waiting to do onstage for the final scene. Felt very strange being naked and chatting about things as we both waited to go onstage. The other scenes we did went really well. After a quick break and some feedback form the Director, including the fact that we were all very quiet and didn't have much projection, we tried a run through again. Much better this time and very few mistakes. The second act is very quick, about 30 mins. There is one scene that we have no clue on that we need to sort out with Mouse. So we are both coming in early on Tues nite to do that. Finished at 5pm after an arduous 5 hours of rehearsing. Mouse is apparently seeing a Barrister on Mon nite about how he can get around this nude problem. We will wait and see.
Tuesday 21st August 2002
Whole Play Run Through
We came in early tonite to sort out the scene we need to with Mouse. Didn't take long as he quickly told us what he wanted and that is to make it bigger than life. HE also suggested that we use a lot more of the stage. He got us to run through it a couple of times once we had done the changes and it felt allot better. Since the stage is being used for a performance tonite, which was paid for by someone from outside the theatre, we opted for a speed run through of our lines. Unfortunately it wasn't really a speed run through, and more like a crawl through. I tried to speed things up but it didn't really help and the Stage Manager eventually told me off. I found that I was about 99% ok with my lines. Joseph, on the other hand, made a lot of mistakes. That is concerning me a little.
Wednesday 21st August 2002
Will anyone ever be on time? Ales and Michael were late tonite, about 1/2 an hour. But this was the nite that I got very pissed off. We were supposed to rehearse as usual at 7pm, when in came Tamara Tonite for an interview. Not a problem, we need the promotion, but it took about an hour so by the time we actually started it was about 8-8.30. As we were doing a full run I knew it was going to be a late nite. No that is ok, if we were told in advance, but we weren't. We also have no clue as to what Mouse plans to do with the nude scene, and that is getting on my nerves. Mouse and Joseph were interview, and it was going well until TAMARA asked Mouse if we were indeed going to be naked. "Yes" he replies. I couldn't believe it! What is he doing I thought to myself. Anyways, with that finished and me a bit pissed off, we began the rehearsal, late. Now, I was really tired from working all day and with a late rehearsal I was doomed to failure. And I was. I screwed up lines, forgot which scene I was in and got totally lost in the nude scene, thinking that we weren't at that point yet, so that when I went to say my lines I forgot them. WE jumped pages in that scene as I struggled to find my way back to where we should have been. WE got through it but it was a very quick scene. The poor sound guy was totally unprepared for us to jump so far, but he managed to cope. All in all a very bad rehearsal. I got home very late and was very pissed off with the whole process. IF there isn't a resolution on the nude scene issue by Sat I am not taking off any clothes. I need to know what the hell is going on?
Saturday 24th August 2002
Run Through x2
The day starts off well, however it did go down hill after that. Mouse gave us the news that he has been given the go ahead to do that nude scene, in the nude, if we want to. There is no problem with that. SO what was the problem? It seems that the Liquor Licensing Authority was under the assumption that the play was being held in the foyer of the theatre, which is where the drinking license is approved. If that were the case we would have had to have an Adult Entertainment License. However since the play, and us being nude in it, is being done in the Auditorium of the Theatre, where there is no license, and then there is no problem. 2 weeks of hassle for nothing. So we are going nude. I am so used to it now that it doesn't worry me in the least. We were supposed to do 2 run throughs today, however Michael and Alex were late, and Jimmy wanted to talk to Joseph and I about our performance on Wed nite, which he did by giving us notes on what areas we need to improve in. So we only got one run through in, and that was a pretty bad practice/rehearsal but not as bad as Wed nite. I dint know where the hell Joseph was at today, but he was certainly off. We missed a scene because of him, and he kept drying onstage and forgetting his lines. Tested my ability I can tell you. I even fed him a few of his lines in the nude scene to get him back on track. Generally I was better with my lines, but my energy was all off because of Joseph. Found it hard to concentrate. Apparently after the rehearsal Mouse had a big talk to Joseph, which was needed. No idea what was said, but apparently it was all good. Quite a bizarre day
Sunday 25th August 2002.
Tech/Cue to Cue and Full Run Through?
The day started off fairly well. Jimmy asked Joseph and me to come in early to work out some blocking for the "Noel Coward" scene, which is scene 3. It went very well, unlike the rest of the day. Joseph must have done some work on his script last nite because he was totally on top of his lines today, especially in the scene that Jimmy got us to block. I was most impressed. I felt allot happier once that scene had been worked out, as this was the last time that we would be working with Jimmy. Jimmy also mentioned about what he wanted from the "Two lonely hearts beat as one" portion of the play. I used the opportunity to cement any doubts I had about what we were doing on stage, which weren’t that many for me. Unfortunately I was really tired after getting to bed at about 1.30am, after doing the sound for "Psycho Beach Party." So I found that at times I was struggling for lines. On the train on the way into the theatre this morning I went over the script, especially the nude scene and corrected the places that I felt I was saying the wrong lines in that scene. That seemed to help. Mouse arrived about 12pm as well, to do the set and lighting stuff for the play. Unfortunately because of the complexity of the play, that took a bit longer than he had anticipated. So we didn’t get to do any cue-to-cue stuff, which is now scheduled for tomorrow nite. Instead we, as a cast, went through the script by doing a line run through. It was supposed to be a speed run through, but for some reason that never happened and we ended up doing it at normal speed. I started well, and got to the nude scene, then seemed to hiccup. I think I am starting to feel the pressure a bit, as I went quieter and quieter as the second act unfolded. I got very pissed off with myself, and am still very annoyed at myself for stuffing up so many lines. I have been over the script I don't know how many times and I am still not getting it all right. So tomorrow, as I am not working, I will spend some of the day on the god dam script again. Mouse noticed I was quiet and had a chat to me afterwards, and I did say to him that it is nothing that I can quantify; I was just starting to feel the pressure a bit. He suggested that I write out the script, which I will try doing tomorrow. I should be less tough on myself I guess. I also doubt my own ability to do this, which is a common thing with me. I have a tough exterior, but really on the inside I am all Marshmallow. Mouse and Jimmy also showed us a change that they were doing on the stage, because of "Psycho Beach Party" which is playing for an extra two weeks on the same stage, late at nite. That won't affect us too badly; I just have to get my head around it all. Joseph and I also worked on how to sort out the sheet problem in the bed scene. In that scene we have no shirt on and a sheet wrapped around us. What was happening was that when I bend down to simulate sucking off Joseph, my butt could be seen out of the sheet, ruining the illusion. We think we have resolved it. We shall see at the next rehearsal. I think I am really tired, and when I am like this I get very precious, which is how I feel at the moment. Let’s just say 7 hours at the theatre takes it toll.
Monday 26th August 2002
Cue-to-Cue (revised)
We spent quite a bit of time waiting around tonite, but as this was the techies rehearsal and not ours, that was ok. I went through my lines with a couple of people and was surprised that I was pretty much spot on with them. Unfortunately Joseph pissed me off a bit as he is a bit of a worry Nelly. He seemed to be unsure about what we were supposed to be doing, and what scene was next. We were going to do a speed-run as well, on stage, but we just ran out of time. I fell a lot more confidant than I did on Sun. Mouse has changed the music for the lap dance, and we walked through it tonite, but it is still not working. Joseph isn’t going into the audience to get someone now, it’s just me, and it would have been nice to have been told this before tonite???
Sunday, July 13, 2003
Subject:
Boys R Us
: DATING GAMES. FYI.
Something new....something silly???
http://www.msnbc.com/news/938179.asp?cp1=1
Boys R Us
: DATING GAMES. FYI.
Something new....something silly???
http://www.msnbc.com/news/938179.asp?cp1=1
Subject:
One guys sojourn in Asia...
Hi there,
Its been awhile since I did one of these so I thought
I would send out a group email of my adventures. So
get a coffee and some bikies and settle down to read
this... :-)
Just come back from 3 days in Malaysia myself last
weekend. Went to Kuala Lumpur, or KL as it is commonly
called. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I
had heard that there was massive pollution, and really
bad crime.
Paid for Matthew to go with me as part of his birthday
present (his bday was recently, on the 5th July), and
partly so that I had someone there with me to help
show me around, as Matthew has been there a few times
before. The most amazing thing that I saw was that we
arrived at the hotel we were going to stay at in KL,
booked in, and decided to go for a bit of a walk
around to get a feel for where we were. The hotel is
located on a busy main road in the heart of the city
and as we were walking out of the hotel there was a
group of European's that looked like they had just
arrived standing by the road-one of them was a women
carrying a bag over her shoulder. Now, this is about
10pm on a Sun night-there was a bit of traffic around,
reasonably busy. I didn't notice it , but Matthew did,
this guy on a motorbike appeared from the traffic and
moved at a reasonable speed, towards the women.
Suddenly, the motorcyclist accelerated and in one
quick movement, snatched the bag off her shoulder and
disappeared into the traffic. All I saw of it was
after the women screamed out and I turned around to
see what was going on, just in time to see the
motorcyclist speeding off into the traffic. Bear in
mind that this was in a busy area with ppl all around,
and it was well lit up as well. Was soo suprised. I
have never seen anything like that before and I lived
in Sydney (which, as you know can be a pretty mean
place at the best of times-and it has a larger
population of 4 million, where as KL only has about
1.8 million. However, KL is mostly muslim.) for
awhile, and even walked home at 2am from the city to
my place in Sydney. I used to walk down Kings Cross
ever night and felt totally safe. After that incident
I was paranoid about my wallet and my cell phone for
the rest of the trip. it stayed in the front pocket of
my pants for the whole trip.
KL is great. I really liked the feel of the place.
That large, free city feel was very apparent there.
And cheap! Every $1 SGD was worth $2.16 RINGGIT. So my
money was doubled which was great. Things are about
the same price as here in SG, with a few
exceptions-for example, sales take on a whole new
meaning when shopping in KL, just cos the dollar is so
cheap. And KFC (which is awful in SG) is sooo yummy in
Malaysia. Malaysians are known for making created
chicken, apparently. And the food generally is sooooo
nice. Much more variety than here in SG where the food
is quite bland, kinda a hodge-podge of cultures
connected together, with nothing unique. We didn't get
allot of time to see all of KL and there was heaps
that I missed out on, but now I know how it works I
intend to go back. We traveled by bus there and back
and getting the tickets was an experience in itself!
To get a ticket here in SG we had to go to a shopping
complex called "Golden Mile" which is where all the
Thai ppl hang out. So there was this amazing Thai
smell of food everywhere you went in this complex.
Sometimes, it was just a little TOO strong. There were
ppl everywhere and not much in the way of signs, but
Matthew knew where to go so I entrusted myself to him
to sort it all out. Ppl had told me how to get a bus
ticket, but it still didn't make sense when we got
there. After looking at two bus stands that didn't
have a bus leaving till 5.00pm that night, we finally
got a bus that was leaving at 2pm. Cost: $25.00 SG
dollars-one way. The trip was six hours long, and the
bus was really spacious so I could stretch out and be
comfortable, not like the public transport buses here
that maximize space and I have to sit with my legs
sideways, just to fit! Getting back was an experience
as I had no idea where to go in KL to get a bus
ticket. Matthew did, soo we got a taxi from the hotel
(there are two forms of charging with taxis in KL. One
is with a meter and is pretty cheap and the other is
where you have to negotiate before you get in. Suffice
to say we chose the metered taxis.) As we arrived at
the area where the buses go from in KL (there were
about 30 companies fighting it out there, in the same
space. Of course they cater to other areas in asia as
well, not just KL.) in the taxi and I opened the door
to get out, there was someone trying to get my
business for a bus ticket, standing by the door of the
taxi that I had just opened. I pretended not to
understand him, as Matthew and I had decided to get
the same bus back that we came to KL on as it did the
job very well. To get to that bus stand to get our
ticket we had to walk past about 15 different bus
stands, and every single one had someone yelling out
trying to get our business. Unbelievable. Noise
everywhere. Ppl approaching me all the time trying to
get my business. Makes shopping here in SG seem like a
walk-in-the-park. The ticket was the same amount back
($25.00) but it was charged in RINGGIT, so it was 1/2
as much as Singapore. They only sell the tickets
one-way, just in case you were wondering...
Met up with an internet friend in KL as well, and he
showed us around a little bit during one of the
evenings that we were there. Showed us where to get
porn (in a muslim country?) Thought THAT was so
dichotomous for such a conservative country. In KL it
has been very easy to get hold of pirated CD's of
movies that aren't even out in the theatre yet. You
can buy them at stalls in most places in KL,
especially Chinatown. Most are filmed with a hand held
camera at premieres around the world so the quality
isn't that good, but there are a few that are printed
from the master of the film (how they do that I do not
know). However, even thou the ppl that runs these
stalls are breaking the law, the police generally turn
a blind eye as they are receiving back handers from
the stall operators. In recent months there has been
continued pressure from many areas to stop the sale of
pirated CD's, and while we were there in KL, there
were none to be found anywhere. The risk involved is
in the quality, as discussed, and getting caught in
possession of them when re-entering back into SG.
Which brings me to another area of my trip-Going to KL
is defined as "going overseas" and as such there is
the usual customs check when leaving and arriving back
to SG. That felt soo weird! And on the way back, as I
stood in the "others" area of customs waiting to be
processed, I met up with a KIWI couple that we over
here on Holiday and had just come back from a week in
Melaka (I think that is the way that it is spelt). I
thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience and intend to
go back. Next stop: Bangkok and Bali.
The PM Goh's recent announcement in TIME magazine that
the government has
quietly removed a law prohibiting the hiring of gays
within the civil service is causing a few waves here.
See http://www.fridae.com/magazine/en20030708_1_1.php
for more information. As well there is a gay couple
that is planning to go to Canada to get married. That
is also causing quite a conservative backlash with ppl
and the media.
Im not sure if you heard about the 29 year old
cajoined twins that were operated on here in SG and
subsequently died within 90 mins of each other? There
was an enormous amount of media coverage about the
whole thing and the whole country was holding its
breath during their operation. Quite sad.
I am seriously thinking about staying here for another
year and renewing my contract with Manpower for a
further 12 months. The cash would be great as this is
paying very well....and of course there is Matthew to
think about, but that not the largest priority.
I think that is all the news for now.
Hope all is well wherever you are.
One guys sojourn in Asia...
Hi there,
Its been awhile since I did one of these so I thought
I would send out a group email of my adventures. So
get a coffee and some bikies and settle down to read
this... :-)
Just come back from 3 days in Malaysia myself last
weekend. Went to Kuala Lumpur, or KL as it is commonly
called. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I
had heard that there was massive pollution, and really
bad crime.
Paid for Matthew to go with me as part of his birthday
present (his bday was recently, on the 5th July), and
partly so that I had someone there with me to help
show me around, as Matthew has been there a few times
before. The most amazing thing that I saw was that we
arrived at the hotel we were going to stay at in KL,
booked in, and decided to go for a bit of a walk
around to get a feel for where we were. The hotel is
located on a busy main road in the heart of the city
and as we were walking out of the hotel there was a
group of European's that looked like they had just
arrived standing by the road-one of them was a women
carrying a bag over her shoulder. Now, this is about
10pm on a Sun night-there was a bit of traffic around,
reasonably busy. I didn't notice it , but Matthew did,
this guy on a motorbike appeared from the traffic and
moved at a reasonable speed, towards the women.
Suddenly, the motorcyclist accelerated and in one
quick movement, snatched the bag off her shoulder and
disappeared into the traffic. All I saw of it was
after the women screamed out and I turned around to
see what was going on, just in time to see the
motorcyclist speeding off into the traffic. Bear in
mind that this was in a busy area with ppl all around,
and it was well lit up as well. Was soo suprised. I
have never seen anything like that before and I lived
in Sydney (which, as you know can be a pretty mean
place at the best of times-and it has a larger
population of 4 million, where as KL only has about
1.8 million. However, KL is mostly muslim.) for
awhile, and even walked home at 2am from the city to
my place in Sydney. I used to walk down Kings Cross
ever night and felt totally safe. After that incident
I was paranoid about my wallet and my cell phone for
the rest of the trip. it stayed in the front pocket of
my pants for the whole trip.
KL is great. I really liked the feel of the place.
That large, free city feel was very apparent there.
And cheap! Every $1 SGD was worth $2.16 RINGGIT. So my
money was doubled which was great. Things are about
the same price as here in SG, with a few
exceptions-for example, sales take on a whole new
meaning when shopping in KL, just cos the dollar is so
cheap. And KFC (which is awful in SG) is sooo yummy in
Malaysia. Malaysians are known for making created
chicken, apparently. And the food generally is sooooo
nice. Much more variety than here in SG where the food
is quite bland, kinda a hodge-podge of cultures
connected together, with nothing unique. We didn't get
allot of time to see all of KL and there was heaps
that I missed out on, but now I know how it works I
intend to go back. We traveled by bus there and back
and getting the tickets was an experience in itself!
To get a ticket here in SG we had to go to a shopping
complex called "Golden Mile" which is where all the
Thai ppl hang out. So there was this amazing Thai
smell of food everywhere you went in this complex.
Sometimes, it was just a little TOO strong. There were
ppl everywhere and not much in the way of signs, but
Matthew knew where to go so I entrusted myself to him
to sort it all out. Ppl had told me how to get a bus
ticket, but it still didn't make sense when we got
there. After looking at two bus stands that didn't
have a bus leaving till 5.00pm that night, we finally
got a bus that was leaving at 2pm. Cost: $25.00 SG
dollars-one way. The trip was six hours long, and the
bus was really spacious so I could stretch out and be
comfortable, not like the public transport buses here
that maximize space and I have to sit with my legs
sideways, just to fit! Getting back was an experience
as I had no idea where to go in KL to get a bus
ticket. Matthew did, soo we got a taxi from the hotel
(there are two forms of charging with taxis in KL. One
is with a meter and is pretty cheap and the other is
where you have to negotiate before you get in. Suffice
to say we chose the metered taxis.) As we arrived at
the area where the buses go from in KL (there were
about 30 companies fighting it out there, in the same
space. Of course they cater to other areas in asia as
well, not just KL.) in the taxi and I opened the door
to get out, there was someone trying to get my
business for a bus ticket, standing by the door of the
taxi that I had just opened. I pretended not to
understand him, as Matthew and I had decided to get
the same bus back that we came to KL on as it did the
job very well. To get to that bus stand to get our
ticket we had to walk past about 15 different bus
stands, and every single one had someone yelling out
trying to get our business. Unbelievable. Noise
everywhere. Ppl approaching me all the time trying to
get my business. Makes shopping here in SG seem like a
walk-in-the-park. The ticket was the same amount back
($25.00) but it was charged in RINGGIT, so it was 1/2
as much as Singapore. They only sell the tickets
one-way, just in case you were wondering...
Met up with an internet friend in KL as well, and he
showed us around a little bit during one of the
evenings that we were there. Showed us where to get
porn (in a muslim country?) Thought THAT was so
dichotomous for such a conservative country. In KL it
has been very easy to get hold of pirated CD's of
movies that aren't even out in the theatre yet. You
can buy them at stalls in most places in KL,
especially Chinatown. Most are filmed with a hand held
camera at premieres around the world so the quality
isn't that good, but there are a few that are printed
from the master of the film (how they do that I do not
know). However, even thou the ppl that runs these
stalls are breaking the law, the police generally turn
a blind eye as they are receiving back handers from
the stall operators. In recent months there has been
continued pressure from many areas to stop the sale of
pirated CD's, and while we were there in KL, there
were none to be found anywhere. The risk involved is
in the quality, as discussed, and getting caught in
possession of them when re-entering back into SG.
Which brings me to another area of my trip-Going to KL
is defined as "going overseas" and as such there is
the usual customs check when leaving and arriving back
to SG. That felt soo weird! And on the way back, as I
stood in the "others" area of customs waiting to be
processed, I met up with a KIWI couple that we over
here on Holiday and had just come back from a week in
Melaka (I think that is the way that it is spelt). I
thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience and intend to
go back. Next stop: Bangkok and Bali.
The PM Goh's recent announcement in TIME magazine that
the government has
quietly removed a law prohibiting the hiring of gays
within the civil service is causing a few waves here.
See http://www.fridae.com/magazine/en20030708_1_1.php
for more information. As well there is a gay couple
that is planning to go to Canada to get married. That
is also causing quite a conservative backlash with ppl
and the media.
Im not sure if you heard about the 29 year old
cajoined twins that were operated on here in SG and
subsequently died within 90 mins of each other? There
was an enormous amount of media coverage about the
whole thing and the whole country was holding its
breath during their operation. Quite sad.
I am seriously thinking about staying here for another
year and renewing my contract with Manpower for a
further 12 months. The cash would be great as this is
paying very well....and of course there is Matthew to
think about, but that not the largest priority.
I think that is all the news for now.
Hope all is well wherever you are.
Wednesday, June 11, 2003
Saw this this morning on the Google http://www.google.com/news site and couldn't resist putting it here. Yay, thats all I can say. :-)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/arts/news/story/0,11711,974220,00.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/arts/news/story/0,11711,974220,00.html
Tuesday, June 10, 2003
SARS and All.
Well. We all know the stories of the world-wide pandemic that has affected most of Asia, Vancouver and some other places as well. This is my 0.50 cents worth on the subject....
It started a few months ago. Panic, stress, drama. Most of it just panic. For a white boi that had lived in Asia before, coping with a new culture was enough on its own. But to have this? Initially there was the "omg! You sneeze on me in public and I kill you?" Then there was the "Don't be so silly David, its not that bad." And finally there was the "I am so not at risk-this isnt even in the public arena." And that was the major fact here. The Singapore Government and the Health Dept over here reacted very swiftly, and very concisely I must say, to this possible pandemic. They put things into place that assisted to keep this virus under control, and big kudos to them as well. I hate to imagine what would have happened if they hadn't done that. But there was a time where I was sick of the word SARS. It was everywhere, in the media-TV, Radio, Newspapers, Internet. You name it, it was there. I wanted to shout "go away!" It literally seeped into your ethos, so much so that when I had a rather tough cold, my temperature slowly moved up to a high of 38.2. Now, it was stated at the time that if your temperature got that high to get to a doctor immediately. Now, it was 3am!!! and I was a little panicky. So I did the next best thing and got an ambulance to pick me up and take me to the SARS hospital (allocted area that dealt with the crisis) and got them to take me there. Of course, by the time I got there my temperature had dropped back to 36 degrees. Typical! But I went through the tests and the questions-testing involved getting a chest x-ray. 3 hours later I was diagnosed as SARS free and I wandered home to sleep, content in the knowledge that I had done the right thing. And I had. It was JUST a cold. But that is how this thing affects you when you are in the middle of it. I know Europeans that REFUSED to use the public transport system and got taxis everywhere. A little reactionary I thought but on reflection I can understand.
Now, Singapore has been taken off the WHO list and its trying desperately to revive its tourism sector. Only time will tell how quickly that sector will recover. It has been decimated. How I wish I was back in little-safe-New Zealand right now.
Well. We all know the stories of the world-wide pandemic that has affected most of Asia, Vancouver and some other places as well. This is my 0.50 cents worth on the subject....
It started a few months ago. Panic, stress, drama. Most of it just panic. For a white boi that had lived in Asia before, coping with a new culture was enough on its own. But to have this? Initially there was the "omg! You sneeze on me in public and I kill you?" Then there was the "Don't be so silly David, its not that bad." And finally there was the "I am so not at risk-this isnt even in the public arena." And that was the major fact here. The Singapore Government and the Health Dept over here reacted very swiftly, and very concisely I must say, to this possible pandemic. They put things into place that assisted to keep this virus under control, and big kudos to them as well. I hate to imagine what would have happened if they hadn't done that. But there was a time where I was sick of the word SARS. It was everywhere, in the media-TV, Radio, Newspapers, Internet. You name it, it was there. I wanted to shout "go away!" It literally seeped into your ethos, so much so that when I had a rather tough cold, my temperature slowly moved up to a high of 38.2. Now, it was stated at the time that if your temperature got that high to get to a doctor immediately. Now, it was 3am!!! and I was a little panicky. So I did the next best thing and got an ambulance to pick me up and take me to the SARS hospital (allocted area that dealt with the crisis) and got them to take me there. Of course, by the time I got there my temperature had dropped back to 36 degrees. Typical! But I went through the tests and the questions-testing involved getting a chest x-ray. 3 hours later I was diagnosed as SARS free and I wandered home to sleep, content in the knowledge that I had done the right thing. And I had. It was JUST a cold. But that is how this thing affects you when you are in the middle of it. I know Europeans that REFUSED to use the public transport system and got taxis everywhere. A little reactionary I thought but on reflection I can understand.
Now, Singapore has been taken off the WHO list and its trying desperately to revive its tourism sector. Only time will tell how quickly that sector will recover. It has been decimated. How I wish I was back in little-safe-New Zealand right now.
Its a Day from Hell.
Its one of those days that we all experience, where its starts out ok and then SLOWLY turns to custard.
The day started out with me going to the gym. Now, I have just joined again after a period away (used to be at a great gym in Brisbane). So here I am running my little heart off for (what I thought) would be 60 mins, but cos I pushed myself sooo hard I ended up only running for 35 mins in total. Feeling good I wandered off. got cruised by an UGLY man in the sauna, and had a shower and got changed. Now, by this stage I was VERY hungry and decided to go to Burger King for Brekky/Lunch. Yes, yes, I hear cries of "Oh my god!" Shush! So I wander up to the counter and point to the laminated sheet on the counter to the meal that I wanted and said I will have the coffee white. The woman behind the counter says $1.50 . What? I say... thinking, "god, that is a cheap meal." Click! Worked out she was referring to the coffee only. Try again. I point to the picture and say "one of those please." Then the women, in this annoying accent starts asking all these questions about whether I want bacon, meat etc. Frustrated, I told her to forget it and wandered off to Orchard Road where I had a fat free sandwhich instead. That was an indication that the day was gonna get worse.
So, I arrive late to work after sleeping in (had a nap before work u see). Called in late-all good. Arrived at work and the computer system was as slow as a weak-wig. Actually, slower. I log calls for pretty big companies that are allocated to Engineers. Was brought over here especially for this role. And, it is days like this that I wonder why? Frustrating as all hell, and busy as all hell. It doesnt help that I HATE doing afternoon shift-working 2pm to 11pm seven days in a row! Which I am at the moment. 3 more days to go. Counting, counting, counting.
Grumpy is me. And tired. And a-lot over it.....
Its one of those days that we all experience, where its starts out ok and then SLOWLY turns to custard.
The day started out with me going to the gym. Now, I have just joined again after a period away (used to be at a great gym in Brisbane). So here I am running my little heart off for (what I thought) would be 60 mins, but cos I pushed myself sooo hard I ended up only running for 35 mins in total. Feeling good I wandered off. got cruised by an UGLY man in the sauna, and had a shower and got changed. Now, by this stage I was VERY hungry and decided to go to Burger King for Brekky/Lunch. Yes, yes, I hear cries of "Oh my god!" Shush! So I wander up to the counter and point to the laminated sheet on the counter to the meal that I wanted and said I will have the coffee white. The woman behind the counter says $1.50 . What? I say... thinking, "god, that is a cheap meal." Click! Worked out she was referring to the coffee only. Try again. I point to the picture and say "one of those please." Then the women, in this annoying accent starts asking all these questions about whether I want bacon, meat etc. Frustrated, I told her to forget it and wandered off to Orchard Road where I had a fat free sandwhich instead. That was an indication that the day was gonna get worse.
So, I arrive late to work after sleeping in (had a nap before work u see). Called in late-all good. Arrived at work and the computer system was as slow as a weak-wig. Actually, slower. I log calls for pretty big companies that are allocated to Engineers. Was brought over here especially for this role. And, it is days like this that I wonder why? Frustrating as all hell, and busy as all hell. It doesnt help that I HATE doing afternoon shift-working 2pm to 11pm seven days in a row! Which I am at the moment. 3 more days to go. Counting, counting, counting.
Grumpy is me. And tired. And a-lot over it.....
Monday, June 09, 2003
Hi. this is my first blog. How did I get here? Well, during the recent war with Iraq I began to read ppls blogs and, found some of them to be quite insightful ( I don't expect mine to be that but here goes.) So here I am.
Who am I? I am a gay boi that has travelled a little bit away from my home country of New Zealand. After venturing to Brisbane, Australia for two years where I lived and workd, I was given the opportunity (for lack of a better word) to work and live here in Singapore, Asia for a minimum of a year. It hasnt been what I expected at all. But more on that later. I am 39 year , 6ft 2.5" tall, about 95kgs in weight, brown hair and eyes.
I will flesh out more later as I discover more about this medium.
Currently working in an IT call center on the East Side of the Island. At work now doing shift work and watching the clock hoping that 11pm will come sooner, rather than later. It is ALWAYS the same-the clock goes slower the closer to home time it gets! Tired.
Who am I? I am a gay boi that has travelled a little bit away from my home country of New Zealand. After venturing to Brisbane, Australia for two years where I lived and workd, I was given the opportunity (for lack of a better word) to work and live here in Singapore, Asia for a minimum of a year. It hasnt been what I expected at all. But more on that later. I am 39 year , 6ft 2.5" tall, about 95kgs in weight, brown hair and eyes.
I will flesh out more later as I discover more about this medium.
Currently working in an IT call center on the East Side of the Island. At work now doing shift work and watching the clock hoping that 11pm will come sooner, rather than later. It is ALWAYS the same-the clock goes slower the closer to home time it gets! Tired.
