Marketing experiment...

Sorry to disappoint you if you have come here in anticipation of an amazing update, but you are now part of my little marketing experiment.

I Simply wanted to see how much traffic I could drive to my site through a bit of facebook status hype.

Luckily I often update my status with other hilarious updates, so you shouldn't feel cheated on that account.

In other news: I just found out we have been overpaying on our council tax and that they owe us nearly £500.

Happy Friday!

Been keeping busy

I've been insanely busy this year so far.

I got getting married (!), I have been studying for my CCNA, for my Open University BSc degree (everything passed so far, with a distinction on the M255 Java module), I've been translating and doing designing websites. Oh, yeah - and I got a new job working for an IT company in the city.

AND... On top of all that, I have also been gigging like mad with Fully FunKtional.

Happy days!

Run, Forest, run!

I've started running. And I hate running. But I had to do something to fight off my expanding gut. Like I said, I hate running, but I love tech on the other hand, so I figured that if I could sweeten the nightmare of running by injecting some tech geekery into it, that might be the answer.

Enter Nike + iPod and this fun little thing that says how much I have (or haven't) worked out.

Don't judge me....

[UPDATE - The below widget which shows (or should show) my runs only seems to work half the time. Well done, Nike]

The times they are a-changing

I have decided that I will be moving my site to a different CMS - WordPress.

I am getting bored with my old site and some of its content. A lot of it is remnants from what now seems like an distant past.

So keep an eye out for a brand new site very soon!

Open University

Traditional education for some reason never really appealed to me. I never went to university and only have what would be the equivalent of a few English A-Levels. It is not that I couldn't have gone - I simply just didn't feel like it and there were other things that were much higher on my agenda. I have a few theories about why this is, but that is a post for another day.

Anyway.... I always spend a good part of my day geeking around with web design, reading tech blogs and generally keeping up with what's going on in the tech world, but I was missing using my brain in a more structured manner. So I recently decided to do a degree in Computing & Business at the Open University. I am at present 2/3 of the way into the first module of the degree and I am really enjoying it. I was a bit apprehensive that I wouldn't be able to get into the routine that studying takes and get the assignments handed in - but it has turned out to be no problem at all. So far at least!

Flickr photos / Flickr map

I have set up an account with Flickr to host the photos I take on my iPhone.

Now, one of the (many, many, many...) cool things about the iPhone is that it geotags your photos so you can view them on a map as well.

Enjoy!

Rock!

I finally managed to make a page about the rock bit of me - about time, really, considering that's all I've been doing for the past couple of years.

Check it out here

Mactastic and gorgeous...

The new MacBook Air - how amazingly gorgeous it is.....

Raul Midon - genius a work!

Just got back from the Barbican Centre, London where I saw Raul Midon for the 2nd time. The man is incredible and should not be missed for anything. Check him out here. Words fail to describe his talent:

Pharaoh's got nothing on me

Now, I am of the belief that when you're dead, you're dead. That's it - lights out, power off, they can cancel your subscriptions and your neighbour can stop feeding the dogs. But... That doesn't mean you can have a cool place to store what's left. So I reserved my place in the next great pyramid. It's going to be built in Germany apparently.

Wanna be neighbours? Your reservation is only a few clicks away...

www.thegreatpyramid.org

Sushi in Soho Square

Finally some bloody summer!

We're celebrating that and the fact that I, for once, haven't got a gig on a Friday night with some raw fish and wasabi tears.

Does time really fly?

A few days ago I was sitting with some friends and we were reminiscing about what we were doing last year at the same time and someone uttered the enevitable: "Oh my God, is that a year ago already?!?".

I've always filed this statement in the "very annoying" category. I simply just don't understand why it always comes as a surprise to some people that time actually passes in this world.

Today I stumbled on this article about the subject on the BBC website

Maybe we just have different perceptions of time. I, for one, am definitely surprised that writing this entry has taking me only 5 minutes. It felt more like 20! So in effect I live my life 4 times slower than others - at least while blogging.

Erica's holiday excitement

Last snap before we board the plane to Denmark. Erica is extremely excited and I managed to eat my entire BLT without interference because Erica was distracted by sparkly jewelry. Happy days. :-)

Hint of summer

Finally just a little bit of summer in Britain. The last few weeks have been positively miserable so seeing a bit of blue sky is good. Unfortunately I have to work tonight - it would have been nice to go the pub like a normal person would do but the venue we're playing at tonight has a decent view so I think I'll survive. And then tomorrow Erica and I are off to Denmark. It's almost like holiday.

Back in the saddle!

Aaaaaaand 2 years went by. Two years. TWO! I'm not going to elaborate too much on what has happened but here is a bullet point list:

• I am now the lead singer in the band Fully Funktional and that's my main occupation
• I have done no theatre since the re-run of the Danish tour of Grease in 2005
• I have a lovely girlfriend who I adore. Her name is Erica Street and she is an amazing artist
• I am the singer on the latest album from Kent Thompson
• My webdesign skills have improved and I now run the company StyleWebsites
• ActorTalk proved to be a dead duck

Thought provoking site

PostSecret

Check it out....

Rock 'N' Roll

I really should have posted this a while ago, because now it is too late. I had a gig with a band I am depping in last Thursday at O'Neills in Soho. I have no idea why I didn't post it, but it simply slipped my mind.

However - the gig went amazingly well despite it being just my 2nd gig with them and I had a great time. I f****** LOVE singing rock 'n' roll these days! I used to sing in a couple of bands back in Denmark when I was just starting out singing, but I stopped doing it because I was wrecking my voice. Since then I really haven't sung much rock, but playing Kenickie in Grease there was no way round it - I had to sing rock. So I did and found that apparently my technique is now up to the challenge and I don't wreck my voice doing it.

So when I moved back to London I decided to try doing some band work again. And through some audition and word of mouth I have ended up depping for WhamDuran and Fully Funktional. And I am loving it. It is such a different way of expressing yourself than doing musicals.

So.. Next time I am doing a gig I will post it here.

For now, thanks to my friends and my agent who came and supported me. You all know who you are.

Bye for now.

Bombs in London

I am writing now just over an hour after a series of bombs went off in central London. Luckily I was no where near the city centre at that point, but safe in my flat. This is just to everyone I know and to anyone interested that I am ok.
So far the police are talking about 20 dead in the blasts - what remains now is to hear who will claim responsibility for this horrible act of terror.

We won!

We won!! Yes!! London won the Olympics bid for 2012. How brilliant is that? Trafalger Square was one big party today. Love it! I know there will be loads of Londoners moaning about the costs of winning the bid, but I, for one, will be more than happy to pay the couple of extra pounds my council tax bill will increase by getting this amazing event to the city. I say well done!

HOT!

Damn, it's bloody boiling in London! And I don't just mean "it's-really-quite-hot" kinda hot, no, it's that "Seriously-if-I-don't-get-either-a-pool-or-a-cold-beer-very-soon-I'm-gonna-die" kinda hot. Also, I have discovered that my house and my room in particular, as it is right under the roof, is probably the warmest place in town. But hey, I like the heat! I am not complaining. Just thought I'd let you know.

Podcasting

So, here I am - sitting at the Århus Airport on wireless network and writing an entry in my blog. You gotta love techonology... Wireless network absolutely rocks and so does my newly purchased 12" PowerBook G4 SuperDrive! I bought it during rehearsals of Grease in Copenhagen and it is hands down the coolest computer I have ever owned. He he - yes, I am now officially a MacWanker.
Anyway! What I really want to talk about right now is another cool invention that is really kicking off in CyberSpace right now: PodCasting! Is is basically downloadable radio shows you put on your iPod or an inferior MP3 player to listen to on the go. You simply subscribe to the shows you like and whenever you're online a piece of software downloads the lates shows and you then transfer them to your media of choice. The great thing is that all the shows are free and most of them done by independent people so you get an amazing variety and no political correctness. Yey! Every need!

Careful though - the stuff is habit forming - in the short space of time I have been listening to podcasts I have already become addicted to:

Adam Curry's Daily Source Code

The Distorted View Show (not for the faint of heart)

Keith And The Girl


All brilliant and funny shows - well Adam Curry's The Daily Source Code isn't really that funny. More geeky come to think of it, but he IS the PodFather so...

You can now get all the podcasts through iTunes by downloading the latest version (iTunes 4.9)

Trust me, it's great - I'm even thinking about starting my own www.actortalk.co.uk podcast.

Watch this space!

Time Flies

Time flies

Since my last entry the new spring production of Grease has rehearsed, opened and performed more than half the shows of its Mini Tour Of Denmark. Once again we've had some good write ups (for one thing a 5 star review in Belingske, praising Rizzo's - Nynne Christine Holman's legs!!) and we're having a great time on the cast. Reumert or no Reumert. ;o) We have 3 more shows in Copenhagen and after that we just have one weekend in Vejle to finish it all of.

After that I am going more or less straight back to London to once again get stuck in. Things apparently have been very quiet over there recently, but hopefully that will all pick up - at least Panto Season is coming up! Damn, I can't believe I already mentioned Christmas.... Like I said, time flies...

Cheers for now.

Winners and Loosers

Well, the Reumert Awards are all over and done with and I am sad to say that Grease did not win the coveted price. It, instead, went to Nørrebros Teater for their production of "Sommer I Tyrol" - a classic Danish musical which apparently have been bringing the houses down overthere. Hopefully I'll get a chance to see it when I start rehearsals in Copenhagen next week. What could possibly have beaten us?!? I gotta see THAT!

Our performance of Greased Lightning went very well and ended the awards ceremony on a very high note. Literally... Unfortunately, due to the nature of live television, the producers started running credits halfway through the number - the bastards! So is was only the audience at the Royal National Theatre who got the benefit of the grand finale. But hey ho, the TV audiences got a taster so now they'll just have to buy a ticket - right?

New job!

Yieeehaarh! Another job just rolled in!

Looks like your's truly will once again be part of a band. More about this later... I will keep you all hanging on the edge of your seats for this one.

Just on my way out of the door to enjoy the spring. Friday night in London - out on the town, definitely. Not bad. ;o)

actortalk.co.uk

I've decided that we actors in London should have a forum and a noticeboard where we can voice our opinions, ask each questions, check out the latest auditions and rumours and geneally communicate with everyone through the web.

Thus, I have created The Green Room - for now it is just in its trial period, but I need people to sign up to it and join the forums, the debates and to let me know what they think of the site and what they would like to see on it.

So please: click here to go to actortalk.co.uk

Thanks!

Winter all over again

Arrgh! Where did the spring go? Seriously, I am all for changes and for things not remaining the same all the time, but another few days of balmy 20-something degrees (even if it meant that garbage cans would begin to smell - how does that happen so quickly?!?) would have been appreciated. Hmmmm...

Well, in anticipation of glorious weather I ventured to the local golf course and found that about 5000 other Londoners had done the exact same thing. The wait at the 1st tee was a painful hour spent watching golfers crawling out from their winter hybernation to find that it is actually still winter. Disgusted with the whole situation many 1st tee-shots refused to travel more than a few yards. Mine included... And to top it all of it was windy and now really starting to get cold.

Oh well. One doesn't quit a golf round. Well, at least not on the 1st tee anyway. On we went. 5 1/2 painful hours later we were in the club house with a final score of 86 (on a par 70 course - argh!)

Spring - pleeeze come back!

Grease nominated for a Reumert

Looks like it's official then:

Grease has been nominated for a Reumert (Danish equivalents of the Olivier, Tony etc) for best Musical.

Hurrah!

Hot & Cold

Spring has finally arrived in London!!

This week I had short trip to Denmark to sing a few songs at Bonusbanken's anual stock holders conference. I sang a few songs and it all went very well.

At the same time I got to see my family which was nice. And my Nan got the flowers I got at the gig - as always

It was freezing in Denmark though so coming back to London to find 18 degrees and sunny skies felt like going on holiday!

So I won't spend anymore time writing today. I'm gonna go and enjoy the sunshine!

Well, Assassins is all over. An absolutely amazing...

Well, Assassins is all over. An absolutely amazing experience, which you can read all about in my rehearsal diary.

Assassins Rehearsal Diary

I hope to be able to do another prison production at some point...

Assassins is going well - I have started a rehears...

Assassins is going well - I have started a rehearsal diary. Feel free to have a look.

Assassins Rehearsal Diary

Good news! I've got a job! Completely out of the ...

Good news! I've got a job!

Completely out of the blue and without even having to audition (my favourite kind of job). The job is with The Pimlico Opera on the Sondheim musical, Assassins. I am playing the part of John Hinckley.

The Pimlico Opera specializes in full scale prison productions. Yes, you read it right the first time - prison productions. Basically the project consists of putting on a show in a prison with a cast made up of part professional actors, part inmates. Read more about Pimlico Opera

I was called in at the last minute as one of the cast members dropped out and I have at the time of writing this been in rehearsals for one week. Next week is tech week and we open on Friday!

It is an amazing experience working with the inmates. I will go into more detail about the production and my experiences over the next few days, but right now I am simply to tired...

But geez... It's nice to get a job...