Shows

It was a very packed day today: I went up to the Book Festival to meet up with my Mom. We saw actor Simon Callow talk about Orson Welles, to promote the third volume of Callow's massive biography of Welles. It was really good. 

After the show we went along to Cafe Andaluz and had tapas: seafood paella, small potatoes in tomato sauce and sour cream and some diced lamb in breadcrumbs with a cheese sauce, along with bread, olives and olive oil. It was a really good meal.

After that we went to a show called Rodney Bewes: Whatever Happened to the Likely Lad? Part Two! a one man show by Rodney Bewes, sharing anecdotes from his long acting career. I always liked his show, Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads?, even though it's dated horribly.

We went along to see a show called Radio Active, which was a live stage version of a 1980s radio comedy show that purported to be the line up for a fictional radio station. I'm a big fan of radio comedy and drama and so I had heard a few episodes of the original show, and the live version really stuck close to it. 

Mom and I stopped off for a drink, and then we went to see a play called Of Wardrobes and Rings which was about the friendship between J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis, and involves the elderly writers reconciling after a serious falling out. It was really good.

Mom went home after the show but I stayed out and had a Belgian waffle and maple syrup and went to see a show called 24 Hours with Mary Lynn Rajskub, which was a stand-up comedy show by Mary Lynn Rajskub (who is possibly best known for starring in the show 24). 

I stopped off at The Joker and The Thief on the way back home and had a couple of drinks. It was a really nice day and all the shows were great.

Only Yesterday

I went out today to The Stand Comedy Club and saw Josie Long perform stand-up comedy. It was a very funny show.

Later on I went to the movies and saw Only Yesterday, a 1991 animated film directed by Isao Takahata. It tells the story of a bored, 27 year old Tokyo office worker who goes on a working holiday to her brother-in-law's family's farm to help out with the harvest. Along the way she becomes increasingly absorbed with memories of when she was ten years old in 1966. It's a beautiful, powerful, slice of life drama.

Day at the Festival

Last night I was watching the 2008 movie version of Brideshead Revisited, based on the novel by Evelyn Waugh. The story with take place during the first half of the 20th century tells of Charles Ryder (played by Matthew Goode) who, as a student at Oxford, befriends the aristocratic Sebastian Flyte (Ben Wishaw) and soon finds himself involved in the lives of the whole Flyte family at their large family mansion, Brideshead. It was okay, kind of slow, but pretty interesting.

Today I had the day off from work. I went up to the shows at the Edinburgh Festival. The Edinburgh Festival is heald every August and is the largest arts and cultural festival in the world. It consists of the main Edinburgh International Festival, which consists mainly of theatre, dance, opera, talks, exhibitions and music. Then there's the Edinburgh Festival Fringe which consists of comedy, music, theatre, dance and children's shows, and is now bigger than the main Festival. There is also the Edinburgh Book Festival and the Edinburgh Jazz and Blues Festival. Originally the Film Festival was also held in August but it was changed to June from last year, because the organisers felt it was getting overshadowed by all the other festivals.

Anyway, I met my Mum and we went along to see Mervyn Stutter's Pick of the Fringe, in which basically Mervyn Stutter, a comedian who sings humerous songs on radio comedy shows, selects highlights from different Fringe shows every day. In today's show they had a couple of musicians, a couple of stand-up comedians, an excerpt from a piece of dance theatre about knife crime and an excerpt from a dance musical set in the 1970s about an Elvis Presley fan. It was good.

After the show we went and had a muffin and a cup of coffee before heading off to another theatre at one of the Universities. The play we saw there was called Morecambe and told the story of Eric Morecambe, the famous comedian who was one half of the famous "Morecambe and Wise" double act. The show was a one man look at his life and career. It was a great show. Very funny and genuinely moving.

After that we went to La Tasca and had some tapas, which was really nice. When I got home I saw a letter had arrived about booking an appointment to get my wisdom teeth out. You have to phone up within one week of the date on the letter, which was 10 August, and then you have to choose one of two dates and times for the appointment. The thing is, it was eight when I got home so there wasn't anyone there. I'll have to phone up on Monday when I'm at work. I'm really not looking forward to it, but it's best to get it over with.