I’m moving!

Well the blog is moving!
I’ve decided that I want to focus on shorter blogs and blogging photos/pictures and small bits from life and due to that reason I’ve decide to move the blog to a blog hosting site that allows me to do this in a more exciting way.  Wordpress has been great to get into blogging and I’ve had a great time here but for me to get the best out of my blogging I feel that tumblr will be better.  SO the address isn’t much different, it has the same name too – just a new look and new outlook.  So please go over to the new blog (link coming up) and see what I’ve been getting up to.  Links get posted straight to my twitter (@JonnyMWright) so follow me for the instant blog updates!

NEW BLOG – jonnymwright.tumblr.com

Thanks and goodnight!

Jonny x

CULTURE: A Christmas Carol @ Birmingham Rep

During my secondary school/sixth form/gap year days I was a member of the Chichester Festival Youth Theatre based at the amazing Chichester Festival Theatre on the South Coast.  Towards the end of my membership there the theatre directors decided that the youth theatre would have the prestigious Christmas slot to put on big productions for the public of Chichester and the south coast.  What started with ‘The Wizard of Oz’ continued with other well known shows such as ‘Oliver’ and then with the continuing success the youth theatre started to have shows commissioned for them.  The latest show was ‘The Snow Queen’ and the show before was a new production of ‘A Christmas Carol’ adapted by Bryony Lavery with music and lyrics by Jason Carr (like wise with ‘The Snow Queen’).  When it was announced earlier in the year that the Birmingham Rep were going to be producing their own production of this version of ‘A Christmas Carol’ I was excited to see their interpretation of it.

The production takes a darker tone to the more ‘traditional’ versions of ‘A Christmas Carol’ such as the ‘Scrooge Musical’ transporting the story into that of a ghost story.  As well as the ghosts of past, present, future and Marley the stage is also occupied by ‘grey ghosts’ who seem to dictate to Scrooge what he should do and help him work, get dressed and go to bed.  This feature was heavily used in Chichester’s production (with a cast of 70 it also helped ensure that all in the cast played an active part) and was again used in Birmingham Rep’s production, but more low key (due to a smaller cast) but just as well done.

I went in a bit dubious that the production wouldn’t live up to that of Chichester’s but then again I went in biased towards my friends down in Chichester.  However I left with a great big smile and with a warm Christmassy feeling (even though I went to see it at the start of January!)

The opening scenes where Scrooges office is wheeled onto the stage showed from the outset the the lighting and other stage effects were going to be used to their very best advantage.  The light beams shimmering through the smoke and the gaps in the office structure creating a strong opening image to the show which carried on throughout the show using the gauze curtain to help the back lighting of the ghost of Christmas yet to come have a strange shimmer to it to help enhance the imagery on the stage.

The songs by Jason Carr include some songs that just float along with the dialogue whereas there are a couple of songs that stand out, most notably the ‘Christmas Goose’ and ‘Yes and No’ songs that show how much Christmas means to the Cratchits and Scrooge’s nephew Fred in the ghost of Christmas present segment of the show.

The cast are led by former Birds of a Feather star Peter Polycarpou who does a great job at portraying a cranky man who is fed up with the world trying to force Christmas down his throat but reacting in an extreme way.  The rest of the ensemble cast flip between roles quickly and effortlessly with members of the Young Rep playing the younger, smaller roles well.  Having seen Rosalie Craig and Sévan Stephan in the West End production of ‘Lord of the Rings‘ it was

great to see them again in this production with Rosalie’s Mrs Cratchit performing a heartfelt plea against thanking Scrooge for the small Christmas meal they had in the song ‘The Toast’.

The finale of the show, when Scrooge decides that Christmas isn’t that bad after all and to start to right the wrongs he has made used the whole theatre with a couple of cast members walking down the steps in the auditorium was a great touch (and one that is used regularly in Chichester due to its layout) and I felt as though it could have been used more as its an effective way to incorporate the audience into the action.  The final image of the show of the entire cast singing ‘Merry Christmas Everybody’ with the dreary grey set transformed into a sea of colour and decorations with added confetti was the perfect ending for the show.

Although I want to say the original Chichester production was better, I have to say that they were both on par with each other and say that Chichester was the best youth theatre production of ‘A Christmas Carol’ I’ve seen and that Birmingham had the best professional version.  Its only on till 9th January 2010 so if you’re in Birmingham I suggest you try and get to see it – and it’ll even make you feel Christmassy again!!

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, adapted by Bryony Lavery with music & lyrics by Jason Carr is at The Birmingham Rep theatre until January 9th 2010 – www.birmingham-rep.co.uk

Happy New Year… and other news!

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!!!

Welcome to 2010… even though I am several days late I thought I had better wish you all a great new year.  Just a minor blog with recent news….

*DONG*

My last Blog of 2009 asked for suggestions for words to start my blog titles and oh my giddy aunt you guys were so quick to not actually suggest any!! On that note the SO is going and at the moment wont be replaced at the moment.

*DONG*

I wanted to do a 2009 review kind of thing at the end of last year but I didn’t as I was at home with family and coming back to Birmingham for new year it all took a back seat so sadly you are losing out on a what would have been fantastic review of the year.  Sad times.

*DONG*

For Christmas I got a Flip Ultra HD and hope to be able to upload some videos onto the blog in the future!! I also hope to use it for other things over the year but thought I’d drop this little bit of information in!!

*DONG*

And in entertainment I went to see ‘A Christmas Carol’ at the Birmingham Rep the other day.  I had seen the premiere of this production at Christmas 2008 when my former youth theatre back in Chichester performed it so to see the first professional production of the show was an exciting prospect and it was a great production.  If I don’t go play in the snow I may well write a blog up about that later today!!

*DONG*

And that’s all for now.  See you for a full and proper blog soon.

Jonny

So… What Word is it for 2010?

SO… That’s how all but one of my blogs have started since it’s conception a few months ago.  However, as we approach a new year, I fear that So… is going to annoy me and you fellow blog readers and commenters.  So… I propose that a new year heralds a new word to start all future blog posts and I want YOU to decide what word will start the first several (at least) blog posts in 2010.  I’m not going to say ALL posts because the word might not work but I will start some of them at least.

The word has to be able to start most sentences or launch a question.  Be creative, or be boring – it doesn’t really matter too much – as long as it works to start a sentence or question suitable to be used as a blog title.

Leave me a comment with your suggestions and then after a while I will have a poll.  IF noone leaves any ideas for there to be a poll then I’ll just come up with one myself.

So… get going!

Jonny

So… Glee – During and Post Thoughts…

While watching Glee I decided to write down my thoughts about Glee as it went along so I would remember things about it… what follows are the ramblings – a bit like a series of nontweet tweets and I apologise for any grammar/spelling mistakes that will occur!!

***  *** *** *** *** *** ***

Part 1:

*SO its started… We have the possible lesbian cheerleading squad coach, the dead fat former glee club leader and some ‘jock’ guy who seems to have taken an interest in the glee trophy and not in class and helped save a poor lad’s nice coat!

*First bit of singing from Oliver.  Gay/camp piano/singing teacher with the shy kid… then straight into the staff room.  This possible lesbian cheerleading squad coach will be a main player me thinks…

*One of the teachers looks like Dan from Neighbours…

*So all the teachers have quirks? Clean obsessed, too fat gym teacher etc…

*The one who looks like Dan wants to take over the glee club! And the principle is like a character from Goodness Gracious Me!

*’falchuck’ funny last name from one of the creators!!

*Mercedes… lovin her!!

*I knew someone like Mr Celophane at school… scary

*Everyone must now slap their thighs when singing I kissed a girl now!

*I might also use gold stars when signing my name now… as long as I don’t get drenched after….

*Now THIS is why I want a flip camera… so I too can post a new video every day of me singing…..

*Where is MY pair of shiny white gloves?

AD TIME!! So far I’m enjoying it – its random, its quirky and it has singing!! What else could I ask for?!

Part 2:

*E4 need to make some bumper things for their shows – it feels weird that Misfits turns into Part 2 of Glee!!

*Teacher personal story starting… wife wants to become pregnant, Glee teacher (William) – Im guessing doesn’t!

*William’s on the prowl… Cheerleaders first which means that the cheerleading coach is going to do the speech about class system of high school to help give some premise to the series. Clean teacher suggest popular kids who are into sports cut to fat sports coach in the buggy….

*That kid from the start who wasnt focussing in Spanish and helped the kid has reappeared… is he going to join glee club…. mmmm I wonder!?!

*Bribe him with keeping him in school to join glee… desperate!

*A Flashback so we can see some history behind the reasoning….

*How many wheelchair jokes will there be?

*Go Mercedes aka Beyonce – she would SO make a better Sandy than the one who looks like Charlotte from Sex & The City

*I’d place money that Willaim gets together with clean teacher…

AD BREAK!! Still really enjoying it –  bits are predictable but its setting the scene so I can deal with that.

Part 3

*Here we go again!!! Time for the footballer to reveal himself as a singer?

*The celebacy pledge scene is getting ripped apart

*Clean teacher leading William astray?

*The first big show piece….

*Rehab!! So will Amy do flips when she next sings it?!

*That is one painful punishment….

*Pregnant wife… going to cause some issues for William and clean teacher…. tho think she’s lying….

*Why does he have to leave though??

AD TIME!! I do like the music used in the Celebrity Big Brother teaser ads…. Still enjoying it, still predictable at times but still good.  Lining up some drama too to make things interesting.

Part 4:

*And we’re back……

*Mini-Charlotte is making football jock guy think deep…

*Awww the football team are being mean to the disabled boy… that’s football guy’s friend…. thats cross dimensional!

*Football guy taking the lead and being a ‘good guy’!

*So now we know why Will wants glee to be successful again… all thanks to clean teacher – will she make him stay?!

*Will William rethink it all thanks to Clean Teacher and the glee club???? mmmm I wonder….

*This is an awesome version of Don’t Stop Believing (and thanks to Shazasm I know its avalaible on Glee Volume 1)

*Ooo people have seen them practice…. That was reallllllly good

*Yay!! William’s staying – and such a strange way to end it…

THE END!

*** *** *** *** *** *** *** ***

Well I really liked that and can’t wait for the whole series come January.  Yeah it was predictable a fair bit, but it had to set the scene.  The randomness felt right with the tone of the show and the performances were all good, with the song and dance sections seamless.  It set up a good amount of drama with William and his wife and a possible love triangle with them both and the clean teacher.

Bring on January 2010!!

So… Glee – Pre Viewing Thoughts!

This is the first of hopefully two blogs today! I’m going to try and do a before and after blog fest on watching the new American series ‘Glee’.  If you’ve not seen the ‘Sneak Peeks’ appearing on Channel 4 or E4 recently nor heard anything about the series then it’s, from what I gather, about a high school glee club (school choir) made of the school outcasts.  It seems as though it resembles a meek overpowering the mighty kind of style with singing and comedy.  It’s been described as the ‘anti-High School Musical’ and as a more satire view of the High School world…

Since finding out about this seriesback in the summer I’ve been looking forward to being able to watch it.  It sounds as though it could be a more credible, popular and much better Britannia High which was one strange program…

Anyways, this blog is just me trying to plug the show a bit I guess and to plug the next blog post which will be my reaction to the show…. it might even be a *live* blog… we’ll see!

Another video for you to feast your eyes upon! This one introduces the cast and gives a bit of an insight to their characters (I’m thinking I’m going to be a Mercede’s fan myself!)

Glee is on E4 tonight at 9PM

So… This Four Term Supply Teaching Rule for NQTs…

*WARNING* This blog contains some political stuff…

I’m a qualified primary school teacher.  I’m an NQT which means that I’m newly qualified after finishing university this summer just gone.  I applied for loads of jobs but was offered none so I became a supply teacher.  If I fail to get a job by next Christmas I will LOSE my qualification.  HOWEVER if I hadn’t have gone into supply teaching and went to work in a shop and then got a job in a couple of years I would have kept my qualifications.  Fair? No.

I spent four years of my life training to be a teacher.  My university never revealed this four term rule (sometimes referred to as the 16month rule), instead telling us about the five year or so rule that used to be in place.  Teaching may look as though it’s a secure profession and ever welcoming, but it isn’t at the moment.  The recession has affected the amount of teachers leaving their roles and tougher OFSTED rules have come in place that make it easier for schools to fall into special measures and therefore unable to take on NQTs.  Just today I lost a term’s worth of supply as I’m an NQT and the school has recently entered special measures.

If you read the first paragraph and agree that it is an unfair and stupid rule then please head over to this petition on the Number 10 website: http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/16monthsupply/ and please urge others to do so too.  It’s a stupid and unnecessary rule that has no place in the profession.

Sorry that this isn’t the most uplifting blog post I’ve ever posted but its an important one, so please spread the word and get signing on the petition.
Thanks

Jonny

So… I went to the ballet…

Thanks to an awesome Arts Council England scheme called A Night Less Ordinary I managed to go along to the Birmingham Hippodrome to see Birmingham Royal Ballet’s world famous interpretation of The Nutcracker.  Having been to the more modern ballets of Matthew Bourne‘s The Car Man, Edward Scissor Hands and this year Dorian Gray and also to the more unusual Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo. (Just a few links to send you away from this amazing blog…)

So yes, after that long winded, link laden introduction, I went to the ballet.  As the introduction was aiming at explaining, I’ve never been to a tradition *slash* classical ballet with the closest to doing so highlighted with links in the opening paragraph.  It was a very different experience from the moment I stepped foot into the Hippodrome, a theatre I’ve been to many times since moving to Birmingham for university in 2005.  From the number of men in suits and ladies in their more formal dresses (with me in my good jeans and a shirt), to the dark blue programs with Birmingham Royal Ballet and it’s crest embossed on the front and a piece of paper with that evening’s list of dancers to accompany it I established it was going to be a more cultured affair than, say, We Will Rock You!

The traditions of ballet is very different to those of a standard musical with ladies with a full orchestra who get their own round of applause before the performance, the condcutor who is as much of a draw as a celebrity would be in a smash hit West End show who also gets his pre-show applause and then the silence as the lights went down and the orchestra started playing the opening bars of the overture was something unprecedented for a show targeted at the more ‘casual’ audience member.  It wasn’t until the woman in front of us got out her gold plated opera binoculars while leaning forward to see the conductor that it dawned on me that I wasn’t in the company of an audience who would sing along to Mama Mia, but in the company of a more exclusive bunch of people who believe they can interpret the movements in front of them into an in depth story with hidden meanings and symbolic kicks of a leg or twirls on a toe.  I’m not implying that not all people in the audience hope to have butlers waiting on them hand and foot – far from it, it’s just the stereotypical view of a ballet audience was there to be seen amongst those who were either first timers like myself, or those who are of a younger generation, or those who go to the ballet to have an entertaining evening.  The best sight in the audience was a little girl coming with her Mum and Gran to meet the sugar plum fairies and to maybe set a seed in herself to either be interested in the theatre or to pester her Mum to let her go to ballet lessons and one day be Ciara or the sugar plum fairy herself.

I didn’t have expectations when I went to the theatre as to what I’d see or what I’d expect.  I knew a little bit of the story which helped and knew there was a big Christmas tree involved, what I didn’t expect was the amount of set changes, scenery and the huge amount of technical wizardry behind the scenes.  There’s a famous transformation scene where the huge room turns into Ciara’s ‘dream’ and the tree grows, the walls turn into woodland and the fireplace becomes a huge firey home for the huge rat soldiers.  Reading an interview with the stage manager she explains how it must be done exactly on time and cue otherwise there might not be a rest of the show let alone the rat soldiers trying to take Ciara away from the Nutcrackers.  The second act involves yet more amazing visuals with Ciara riding a huge bird/swan thing over a stage full of dry ice and the never ending stain glass window during the dances in the great hall like building of the magician.

On the whole the show is an amazing feat of technical know how and strength on behalf of the dancers.  To think having such strong toes would ever give anyone such an amazing career!! The dancers must have such strength and stamina to be part of such a show and to do it night after night to audiences after audiences.  I’ll take being part of that audience as an experience, clapping after solo dancers have done their solo dances mid-show and the presentation of the flowers at the end, to help me when I go to another ballet (which I hope to to extend my cultural experiences).

Maybe I’ll start rating the shows I go and see.  If you’ve never been to a ballet then go! Read up before you go, find out the story so you don’t spend the whole performance trying to work it out so you can enjoy what you’re seeing.  The Nutcracker seems to be a good one to start with (my knowledge of ballets is so extensive of course…)  Take the opportunities when they arise and inject some culture into your lives!!

Jonny

So… I have an iPhone!!

Hi all!

Apologies for not blogging… I promise to change – make it an early new years resolution.  It’s not that I’ve not had anything to blog about, far from it, it’s more that I’ve just not felt as though I’ve been able to.  Nothing deep about that cos I mean it’s more that I just haven’t known how to phrase things I guess.  I’m quite embarrassed though that one of my previous blogs bigged up the lets-make-a-one-time-chart-topper-TV-Reality-Show contestant, Danyl who I now really do not like in the slightest and haven’t done since just after I bigged him up so I feel a bit stupid… My twitter (@JonnyMWright) usually has a few tweets about him every Saturday/Sunday.

Anyway, since I last blogged many moons ago things have changed slightly.  I’m still a primary supply teacher, but now I’m a primary supply teacher with an iPhone.  This thin phone has changed my life.  No joke! I twitpic everything I see, if I’m not sure about how to do something I search the app store to see if there’s an ‘app for that’, and I find myself linking every last thing I can to it (though not yet WordPress – shall do soon though!).  I’ve become an expert at docking boats on HarborMaster, landing planes on FlightControl and matching up jewels of 3 or more on Bejeweled 2 (and linking it to Facebook for Bejeweled Blitz).  I’ve become top of the Brimingham leaderboard on FourSquare (an awesome app where all you do is check in wherever you go somewhere), I’ve unleashed the mobile banking and tried to keep track of my expenses on iXpenselt.  I’ve lost count of how many apps I’ve downloaded and got rid off though.  My itunes receipts are miles long now – though almost all the items are free… good times!

I’ve had it just over a month now and think I’ve got past the point where I take it out and show it off -though I have managed to convert one blackberry user to an iPhone (maybe that was my quest?!).  I’ll be proud of that

I will blog again soon…. promise!!

Jonny

So… This Avatar film… is it more Spavatar?

What is all the fuss about the new James Cameron movie Avatar?  Just now I’ve noticed this article on the fantastic website Digital Spy About how the Avatar Trailer has “broken the record for the number of trailer views on its first day online”.

I’m first to admit that I jump on bandwagons but this is one I just can’t get my head round.  SO some director has spent so many years on a single film that will apparantly revolutionise (sorry about the spelling!) the film experience…. well how?! It uses 3D? Well that isn’t new.  Uses amazing computer effects? Again, not new!  To be honest the plot sounds appalling too… and I quote from Digital Spy: “Avatar centres on a paraplegic war veteran Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) who journeys to the planet Pandora and regains the use of his legs through a Na’vi avatar”.  Sounds a bit poop if you ask me.  It’ll no doubt break some records at the box office just because of the hype the studios and producers and also the geeks and fans have made about it, but will it be any good?

Likewise Dan Brown…. Is he any good?! Da Vinci Code managed to grab people’s imaginations into thinking that something in Da Vinci’s work held clues about some old mystery but looking back at the book its crap! Angels and Demons – that’s a far better book but people ignore that for Da Vinci Code.  His other books are also better but once again are over looked.  His new book coming out in a few weeks is coming out with trumpets blazing.  No doubt it’ll be a best seller on hype alone but will it be any good?!! All the copy cat books of Dan Brown books too – if they didn’t have near identical covers noone would bother.  Had a laugh in WaterStones yesterday by looking at the copy cat covers and trying to find differences between them – only the title and author being them.  GRRRRR Its frustrating!

SO if like me you haven’t seen the Avatar trailer…. are you?! I don’t plan to until I’m in a cinema and its forced at me.  But… are you excited for a film that you don’t know much about? Have a vote.

Anyway, two blogs in an hour is quite enough.  I’m off for a week but I’ll blog on my return.

Jonny