Dreamgirls Schreamgirls

I took Caleb to see Dreamgirls last night. And as much as I love the musical, as much as I adore Beyonce (except for this weird obsession she has lately with holding her arm over her head in every single photo snap - I don't know what happens to people when they become mega-famous but gees it happens quickly) as much as I adore glitz and glam, I just thought this was just complete Oscar hype.

Essentially I think the problem was that they left it too long to establish that this film was a musical. I know what you're thinking: "Duh, Jen. Dreamgirls! You're seeing a film about a singing trio, of COURSE it's a musical!"

But no, you criticise too soon, dear people. For what I mean is that while there are plenty of rockin musical numbers in the film, it takes almost forty minutes until someone actually bursts into song mid-scene (as in, the song is part of the actual scene and not just them singing on-stage), meaning that you are quickly taken aback, like "What the hell's happening? Oooooohhhhhh....it's a musical..."

But by that stage it's too late - breaking into song mid-scene just looks silly. And continues to just look silly. Seriously...when Beyonce and Jamie Foxx turned to each other for a musical heart-to-heart, people in the movie theatre started laughing. Even Caleb was laughing. Then Caleb was wriggling, yelling "Mummy, let's go!"

I couldn't help but agree.

So we did.

But for the waste of a movie ticket, I couldn't help but walk out of that theatre feeling just a little cooler, knowing that my son, my 2-year-old son, is completely and utterly Oscar hype proof.

If only we could get some kindergardners on the Academy voting committee...

Zen and the Art of Stand-Up Comedy

The subject title of this post also happens to be the title of one of the first books I ever read on stand-up, and I'm going to go through and read it again. Also on my list of things to do to feed my inner comic this year is:

- Watch and learn from more amazing comedians. I started last night by watching my new Bill Bailey DVD - apparently since our plans have commenced Operation Hiccup I am a little less motivated to save $$ - and was absolutely blown away. If there is a comic I want to be, it's him. Though with larger boobies and more hair.

- Get my hands on a copy of Comedian, a documentary Jerry Seinfeld did on the comedy world a few years back. Both Fred Lang and Greg Sullivan have urged me to watch this, if not threatened to batter me senseless with a rotten cucumber if I do not.

- Spend more time talking to comics about comedy. I'm such a geek - but I do love hearing people talk comedy, share their experiences for better or for worse and get their take on how this whole crazy business works. Greg Sullivan, for instance, was sharing his thoughts the other night on how comedy is like martial arts - you work your way up through the belt colours, you learn from your teacher/mentors and when you see someone who's finally cracked it and gotten their black belt, they're just so pumped and you know the amount of time and effort it's taken them to get there.

Here endeth the comedic resolutions for 2007.

The best laid plans...

To update y'all:

- The van's still missing. The cops seem confident we'll find it again. In what condition is another matter.

- This, combined with serious visa issues, means that our travel plans are potentially significantly set back, seeing as we were planning to sell the van ASAP and use the cash to subsidise the trip.

- Ella's latest commentary on the whole affair includes "Whoever stole our van is very, very naughty!" and "Tonight I'm having booby ice-cream."

Don't ask.

2007's not off to such a great start.

Our van's been stolen. Yes, that's right, our home, ladies and gentlemen, has been stolen. It sucks.

It took us months to save up for that tank of petrol.

Belated New Year Resolution

I've been fighting it and fighting it, but I just can't NOT make New Year Resolutions - it's like putting a fudge covered chocolate sundae into my mouth and telling me not to eat it, or like putting on my new all-time favourite movie Kung Fu Hustle on the television when I have absolutely nothing to do and asking me not to watch it, or like throwing Johnny Depp into my house drenched in Bailey's Irish Creme and forbidding me to lick him.

Just not gonna happen.

BUT...I'm keeping it simple. My resolution, for 2007 is quite simply, to be disciplined. In terms of how I treat my family, my money, my career and my body, I want to set my mind to the way I want to live and then actually apply myself to do it.

There, that's it. Easy.

(Oh, and if anybody actually wants to drop Johnny round - with or without the Irish Creme - then please at least call me beforehand so I can clean the place up a bit.)

Losing my blogging mojo

So I could bore you with the endless visa dramas we're encountering at the moment, how no matter how many websites we scour, e-mails we send, people we talk to and phone calls we make, it's almost impossible to get a straight answer to our questions and thus we find oursevles left in limbo land plans-wise. How at this stage, we may be overseas as early as April, or as late as the end of the year. How we might be in the UK or Canada or the USA.

But I won't. Firstly because it seems incredibly diva-ish to even whinge about options which are so incredibly exciting, and secondly, because I've got something far more indulgent to whinge about: the loss of my blogging mojo.

There used to be a time, let's call it The Honeymoon, when I would reign myself in from blogging too much, such was the strength of my addiction. But lately I've been scratching my head and wondering what the hell I should even blog about - and I think I've figured out why.

1. I've been blogging now for almost two years - 2005 on Vibewire, and then 2006 on Comic Mummy. Maybe like all relationships, we've hit a point where the initial fiery passion has worn out a little bit and we're now at the more 'settled' stage of our day-to-day cohabitation.

2. What started out as much more of a personal blog, has now evolved so much - both in content and in readership - that it has left me constantly second-guessing and censoring myself i.e. I don't write the personal stuff so much anymore for fear that a producer will choose that day to check out my site. It has happened (i.e. not the two events colliding - touch wood - but industry and professional people do check out this site and thus my awareness of the need to keep it all appropriate is pretty justified.)

I mean, when I started blogging at Vibewire, I had literally only just started getting back into performing again, whereas now it's pretty much 95% of my career. Things are going well. But in short, my reasons for blogging, and I guess the life I lead (and therefore blog about) has changed.

On the upside, I absolutely LOVE the fact that people read what I have to write. I don't understand why anybody would really care enough to come back time and time again, but for whatever reasons, there's a fair few of you guys who do, and whether you comment, lurk or just occasionally check in, thanks heaps. With 100% honesty, you should know that since I've been feeling this lack of blog enthusiasm, that really has been the only reason I've kept posting: because I know that people are checking the site and continuing to read what I put on it. So kudos to you!!

Look at me, I'm a blogging cliche.

Anyway, the point is, I'm sure that what I'm feeling is just a seasonal dip in a blogging lifetime. I shall look forward to more long walks on the cyber-beach and some virtual candle-lit dinners, so we can get our mojo back. Baby.