From bias free of every kind

Went to see Rock Trial last night. It's a rewrite of Gilbert & Sullivan's Trial by Jury with (can you guess?) rock music. Same words & harmonies, but in a very different style. Probably the most enjoyable thing I've seen on stage. The whole thing was helped by a pretty amazing audience: it was in a small theatre in the RNCM, so most people at the Saturday night show were ex (or present) MUGSS people. Before the show even started, there was a mexican wave, and chants of "Rock Trial!, *clap, clap, clap*, Rock Trial!, *clap, clap, clap*, etc...". Much of this was led by Al, the director, who was sat just behind Emma & meself.
Another reason for going was that Pete was playing guitar. It sold out fairly quickly; we only got tickets for that night because Alison kept a couple aside for us. Thanks Alison!
I liked the G&S version anyway (I was in it last year before doing La Cage!), but this was really well done. The leads were all very good and while the clever lyrical humour was intact, a lot of updated gags had gone in on top of those. As well as the leads, there was a huge chorus consisting of nerds, hippies, old people, groupies (of Edwin, the defendant), punks & such.

Brilliant night out.

I went to Bristol yesterday, the nightmarish traffic was just as bad as I remember, started with the Zoo, unsurprisingly it's changed a bit since I was last there. The penguin and seal enclosures have underwater viewing tunnels so you can see them swimming. I really liked watching the penguins and the seals appeared to be showing off to me and the wide-eyed toddlers. I decided to walk back towards the City Centre, stopping off at where we used to live, it's certainly changed, the exterior's been sandblasted, but I didn't have too many happy memories of Bristol to be spoiled by any changes. I also stopped off at a toolshop for some tools for work and the geology section of a museum.

It took ages for me to find anywhere I wanted to eat, half-two is very late for me. I only found one thing I wanted to buy, a PC game, but a previous mix-up of CDs in the part-exchange shop meant I didn't get it. The wind really started to get going, so I headed back to the station, and ended up waiting nearly an hour for a train running 40min late, and already rather full before 40+ people got on at Bristol. It's nice to know that Virgin Trains has improved its reliability.

Despite being rather tired when I got home, I quite enjoyed myself and the snow this morning has left me in a good mood, despite most of the snow melting.

As the "festival we shouldn't even be thinking about until mid-December", is approaching could you e-mail me some suggestions for presents for Monica, Nan and the Parents.

I been in a bit of a slump at recently, but things seem to be improving, several clock haven't been working properly with no apparent cause, with help I've been able to work out what I was not doing, and feel rather silly for not doing it in the first place. I suspect the combination of the clocks changing and a change in my working week threw me a bit out of step.

I've made a start on a craft project to make a couple of "pin pictures", with nails on a cloth-covered MDF board . This sort of thing http://www.mmwindowtoart.com/drawing/para1a.html Hopefully, tomorrow I'll draw out the designs on paper, then use the paper to guide where I hammer the nails in.

Apologies in advance

What's black and white and conquered most of the civilised world?

Alex Panda the Great.

I'm really, really sorry.

Slugs Ate My Parents

'Tis a band consisting of Dan from choir. He's got a few gigs lined up in Manchester (see website),
and you can listen to some Mp3s elsewhere on the site. I particularly liked "It is Wise to Fear the Mega-Spider".

The BBC said:

"Odd doesn't really do Slugs Ate My Parents justice. This is music from the insides of an asylum, where deeply frightening basslines back lyrics like 'Would you like a drink of water?/I’ve put poison in your water' and 'His name is Mr Jesus/And he don’t know if he exists'. It's a case of experience at your peril, but you really must experience..."

It's that time of year again

I can't think what I'd like for Christmas. This won't be a suprise to anyone who's asked me for the last 10 years or so, since I've tended to look confused, and then ask for money. Inspired by their campaign last year, I'd like to direct shoppers to Oxfam's website where they've got some rather cool things (donkeys, trees & such) which go to people who need them. You also get a card for the person you'd normally get a present for, telling them that you've spent the money usefully. Seems much more Christmassy that getting people stuff they don't need.

Actually, I'd also like Ziggy Stardust & Hunky Dory (Bowie), but other than that I'm out of ideas, so get a goat for someone who needs it.

Book Club seems to be working out at last, I talked about a duology of books in Anne McCaffrey's Dragonriders of Pern series, (Dragonsong and Dragonsinger: Harper of Pern). One person talked about a biographical book on an aircraft test pilot \ engineer who started during WW2. The other person talked about another Dragonriders of Pern book (Moreta: Dragonlady of Pern).
Quite enjoyable, I lent one of my Asperger books and Shatterglass (Tamora Pierce) to a chap who seemed interested in both.

Work seems to be improving a little, there's a bit of "edutainment" with a BHI-trained part-time repairer, him getting the education, us getting the entertainment from some of the inefficient practices such as thoroughly cleaning the movement in the cleaning fluids before and after doing the actual repair work. He's even keeping a work diary, which just seems a waste of time. Hopefully we can teach him some more time-efficient work habits.