Hi everyone, welcome to another post.
So a lot has happened since Tuesday, namely college has officially closed! For some people that will be a "Hell yeah, freedom!" or a "Thank God my exams have been cancelled" but for those of us who actually like college this is a serious "I understand why this needed to happen but...HOLY HECK THIS SUCKS!" moment. Fear not dear internet friends, there is a solution: teachers continuing teaching online. Yes, my college has adopted the approach of using emails, moodle and google classroom to enable studies to continue and I can honestly say that I am so grateful!
Pre-warning: this blog post is mostly going to be informative so if that isn't your thing, I understand, I hope you stay safe and I'll see you guys in tomorrow's post.
With that said, the studying itself is up to you, which can be a bit of a problem if, like me, the idea of being cooped up with the same people for who knows how long drives you mad. There are solutions, all of these may not necessarily work for you and that's okay, everyone works in a different way and as we are still in the early stages of social distancing/self isolation, I can't guarantee how long they will work for but I can say that hopefully this will give you some...well hope.
My first tip is to get organised and try to stick to your routine as much as possible. Yesterday I found a grid, which let me split up my day into 4 chunks so that I can be productive whilst giving myself a bit of a break. I planned studying to be in regular college hours so that way I can keep in the routine of being at college despite the fact that I am not "physically at college", it also helps make sure I don't fall behind in set work. I then filled in regular college timetable gaps with homework, any time left over I assigned to being creative or chilling out with a book/film/online theatre production.
My next tip is to arrange group chats with peers if you are able to. I study History and English so I created group chats for anyone who is studying the same courses as me, this way we can discuss topics, come together if we need help with any of the work, chat and generally keep each other company. Creating these group chats also means that people can come and go as they please. If you were wondering if they work, absolutely yes.
Take breaks when you would usually take breaks. For me this meant stopping at 12pm to eat lunch, I also ended up participating in @sarahcrossanwriter 's Instagram lesson. She is planning on live-streaming most days at 12 noon and offers writing/poetry workshops and sets challenges. This week's challenge is to memorise a rap/poem or monologue, post a performance video and tag her in it. In case you were wondering, I plan on learning a monologue from "Othello" off by heart so if you follow me on Instagram or Facebook, keep an eye out for that monstrosity :)
Another thing I did during my break was go for a half an hour walk, if you are on full lock-down I appreciate that this is not possible and I genuinely hope things get better for you. I am lucky enough to not be on full lock-down yet and to live in a rural area with lots of access to the countryside, which means that I am able to exercise whilst still being able to participate in social distancing. Exercise is really good for mental health so I recommend doing some if you are able to, even if it means following along to a home exercise video.
If your studies rely on emails for communication, check your emails regularly! Whilst I was studying today, I set aside a tab so I could receive a notification whenever emails came in. This also meant that it was easier for me to contact my teacher to explain that my work would be submitted an hour or two later than the deadline. Keeping communication open, especially with teachers, is really important! During college hours this means that I have the opportunity to ask questions or just ask for book/further materials recommendations. That being said, teachers are always open for you to ask for extra resources that support their subject but not necessarily the course you are studying, I asked for recommendations for books about literary criticism and poetry and my teacher was kind enough to give me some exciting suggestions.
Music really helps if you are studying alone or helps if your house is noisy. If it's requested, I'll do a whole post about music because my music tastes are a bit all over the place lol.
Another thing which is really good for concentration is a PAID app called "Forest" (this is not sponsored, the app is just useful). Basically you set a timer for how long you want to study for, plant a tree in the app and your tree grows during the set time. If you leave the app, the tree dies and you end up with a dead tree in your forest so the goal is to fill your forest with lots of fully grown trees. If you are a bit sceptical, fair enough, I was too but then I became really attached to my trees and felt really sad if they died. So far I have 2 fully grown trees and 2 dead ones. You can also change the type of tree you plant and earn more virtual coins to buy trees by participating in sessions. In case you were wondering, this isn't one of those apps you can just use for studying, I used it to stop myself looking at every single notification whilst trying to chill out and read.
Stay as productive/busy/occupied as possible. You may be the type of person who can not do much and stay chill during this really uncertain period, I respect that! I just happen not to be one of those people. I generally do well at staying calm during a crisis/strange time so long as I keep myself busy and give myself less time to think about what's going on. To be honest, I keep an eye on the news as a way of seeing how I can help protect myself and others from the virus as well as waiting to hear when this will all be over because this will end eventually. Back to the point, when I'm not studying, I'm doing something that I enjoy to both keep myself happy and distracted.
One final thing I want to talk about. Communication. I know, recently I have gone on about it a lot but it's just so important! I contact people when I feel able to and I respond to messages as soon as possible not just because I am a bit of an extrovert but because I want to help keep communication open/help others feel less alone. By responding when I feel able to, I give myself the chance to have some space alone if I don't have the energy or want a break from social media.
Bit of a longer post today. Thank you so much for reading, stay safe, stay as positive as possible and I'll see you soon
-Amello
19/03/2020
18/03/2020
Handling social isolation for theatre folks
Hello everyone,
Today's post happens to be a request: "Now that the theatres are closed and classes are being cancelled, what are theatre people doing?"
Short answer, people are doing a lot. So let's get into the long answer...
As a theatre lover (although ex-thespian) I naturally turned to social media. The first thing I looked at was theatrical accounts on Instagram, where I found @officialbroadwayworld. Recently they have been posting utterly hilarious pictures of what they call #SocialDistancingMusicals, as well as living room musicals and various virtual things related to musical theatre. It's seriously good so go and check it out if you get the chance. I also follow @londontheatrereveiws for updates about news concerning the west end and @westendquiz for quizzes and fandom related things.
On to the biggest hub (as far as I know) for theatre fans...Facebook. There are so many groups and forums to join!
I ended up participating in an online acting opportunity called "Sofa Shakespeare" as the result of of joining "Shakespeare Forum". "Sofa Shakespeare" is a call out for people to submit 1 min extracts from the Shakespeare play (lines are assigned via email if you chose to sign up) that is selected, everyone's clips will be edited into a full play and then will be available for the world to see i.e. released into the internet jungle. The first play is Romeo and Juliet and the deadline for submission was 4pm UK time today. I played Romeo for the first time and performed lines from Act 5, scene 3 (one of my friends agreed to film it so shout out to her. Thanks for the help, you were ace!). I haven't done any acting whatsoever since November so my performance was mediocre but that doesn't matter because its all in good spirits! It was also really fun being able to perform a monologue outside on a field. Random I know...anyway, I am excited to see how the film works out!
Other theatre related Facebook groups I am a part of are: "Theatre Geeks", "Hamilton West End Community", "All Things West End" and "All Things Audition!" . Each group offers something different so it's a good idea to have a look through the posts and see what appeals to you.
Basically, there's a whole world of possibilities on the internet for thespians to explore so go and have fun with it!
Bit of a short post today because I wanted to stay on topic and hopefully aid in keeping people's spirits up. A lot has happened in UK news today so I'll shed a light on what that means for me soon and how I plan on keeping my spirits up, in the hopes that it may help you keep positive or make you feel less alone during such a crazy period of time.
Remember that it's okay to feel pessimistic and upset by what has been going on but people are here to help, so don't be afraid to reach out to people and professionals on websites/social media/phone calls etc. Also remember to keep in touch with people if you are able to i.e. ask them how they are. Loneliness is an issue but we can help keep each other company. We will absolutely get through this difficult situation together!
If you have any post requests, let me know either on the official Instagram account for this blog @words.ofworlds or in the comments below.
Thanks for reading and I'll see you later!
- Amello
Today's post happens to be a request: "Now that the theatres are closed and classes are being cancelled, what are theatre people doing?"
Short answer, people are doing a lot. So let's get into the long answer...
As a theatre lover (although ex-thespian) I naturally turned to social media. The first thing I looked at was theatrical accounts on Instagram, where I found @officialbroadwayworld. Recently they have been posting utterly hilarious pictures of what they call #SocialDistancingMusicals, as well as living room musicals and various virtual things related to musical theatre. It's seriously good so go and check it out if you get the chance. I also follow @londontheatrereveiws for updates about news concerning the west end and @westendquiz for quizzes and fandom related things.
On to the biggest hub (as far as I know) for theatre fans...Facebook. There are so many groups and forums to join!
I ended up participating in an online acting opportunity called "Sofa Shakespeare" as the result of of joining "Shakespeare Forum". "Sofa Shakespeare" is a call out for people to submit 1 min extracts from the Shakespeare play (lines are assigned via email if you chose to sign up) that is selected, everyone's clips will be edited into a full play and then will be available for the world to see i.e. released into the internet jungle. The first play is Romeo and Juliet and the deadline for submission was 4pm UK time today. I played Romeo for the first time and performed lines from Act 5, scene 3 (one of my friends agreed to film it so shout out to her. Thanks for the help, you were ace!). I haven't done any acting whatsoever since November so my performance was mediocre but that doesn't matter because its all in good spirits! It was also really fun being able to perform a monologue outside on a field. Random I know...anyway, I am excited to see how the film works out!
Other theatre related Facebook groups I am a part of are: "Theatre Geeks", "Hamilton West End Community", "All Things West End" and "All Things Audition!" . Each group offers something different so it's a good idea to have a look through the posts and see what appeals to you.
Basically, there's a whole world of possibilities on the internet for thespians to explore so go and have fun with it!
Bit of a short post today because I wanted to stay on topic and hopefully aid in keeping people's spirits up. A lot has happened in UK news today so I'll shed a light on what that means for me soon and how I plan on keeping my spirits up, in the hopes that it may help you keep positive or make you feel less alone during such a crazy period of time.
Remember that it's okay to feel pessimistic and upset by what has been going on but people are here to help, so don't be afraid to reach out to people and professionals on websites/social media/phone calls etc. Also remember to keep in touch with people if you are able to i.e. ask them how they are. Loneliness is an issue but we can help keep each other company. We will absolutely get through this difficult situation together!
If you have any post requests, let me know either on the official Instagram account for this blog @words.ofworlds or in the comments below.
Thanks for reading and I'll see you later!
- Amello
17/03/2020
The last day of true freedom (for a while)
Hello Everyone, Amello here!
Today felt like what I imagine the last good day before the apocalypse would be like. Weird. We all kinda had a feeling that the UK would eventually go into preparation mode but we weren't sure when exactly that would be. Well folks, as the result of yesterday's news about not going to all of the exciting places like theatres and pubs, we are officially in prep-mode. So what did this mean for me? Making the most of my last day of actual freedom. Yes, I said to myself "if today is the last day of freedom for a while, not only am I going to prep but I am going to socialise and have a lot of fun!"
So I didn't come to college via public transport for the first time in...how long? I got dropped off and it felt weird but on the plus side, it gave me a good hour to listen to quality music in the form of: Cavetown, Lady Gaga, Sara Bareilles, the strike, Panic! at the disco, Brandi Carlile and the &Juliet cast recording. A bit of everything but screw it, a good song is a good song no matter the artist (she says as she has just listed artists, much irony).
I ended up getting to college 2 hours early because my driver (otherwise known as a parent because I haven't got my licence yet) couldn't drop me off any later. Fear not, I had things to do. Namely homework that I spent the weekend productively procrastinating. I have decided that productive procrastination is a thing as I ended up DIYing a denim jacket. Feeling a bit too cocky, I put my book on the side thinking that I wouldn't need a full 2 hours to complete the reading/note taking homework. I was so wrong. It turns out that anything written by a literary critic needs to be translated into English. Basically, at the end of 2 hours, I traipsed over to Early Modern History with a page yet to be translated.
Student teachers are always interesting. I have to admit, I felt bad for the guy because he told us that he only found out that he would be teaching the lesson an hour before. Fun times! We spent the best part of said hour making mind-maps in groups about either the peasants or the upper class, focusing on what impact the French Revolution had on them. My group were assigned the peasants and not only did we make a mind map but we ranked the gains and losses in order of significance. Riveting stuff I know but try to contain your excitement because it gets so much better. The sub didn't come with puns and jokes like we are all accustomed to but he was nice all the same, if a bit quiet. That being said, I respect the quietness. It must be truly terrifying to not only be teaching 6th former's but winging it with a lesson plan you've only recently received, well done sub! You did yourself proud. Bonus: we left class at 11:30!
I spent my extra time in the library, trying to translate the dreaded page and make notes in half an hour. Success! I even had enough time to borrow 5 books (Lord of the flies, The perks of being a wallflower, To kill a mocking bird, One flew over the cuckoos nest and The colour purple) before meeting up with a friend and discussing life stuff. I might start calling Tuesday lunchtimes "life lunches" because we always end up having deep conversations (which I thoroughly enjoy). Although he is interested in a local eco-club so I might have to re-think the re-name if I decide to join him. Lets face it, I probably will.
Then along came English and thus came the exclamation of "fuck me" under my breath as I realised that the homework I spent all morning doing and all weekend procrastinating, wasn't due until next Friday. Well done me for mucking up timings yet again! I love studying "Othello" but I must admit, a romantic comedy would do a better job at keeping everyone's spirits up i.e. "Much ado about nothing" or better still "A midsummer nights dream". Just saying. Anyway English was as awesome as usual #favelessonoftheday . To be fair, I wouldn't have picked it if I didn't like it...moving on to the actual prep-part of my day...
I decided to make the most of the fact that I am currently still able to leave the house by walking all the way into town. It took me an hour and my fingers went purple, it was so worth it!!! Of course I did what any normal person would do to fix the hand situation, I bought a bottle of mango juice because logic. I had been lucky to have been kindly gifted enough money to get 2 books so I made a bee-line for waterstones. Upon arrival, I rushed upstairs to the sci-fi section (I've recently become obsessed with dystopian fiction) to find THE BOOK. They had it! I got my mits on the last copy of "The library of the unwritten" having looked for it for the past 2 weeks. Once I got out of fangirl mode, I picked up a copy of "Aristotle and Dante discover the secrets of the universe" and headed over to Krispy Kreme.
They are now selling smiley face doughnuts because apparently Saturday is world happiness day, I'm wondering how exactly that one's going to go considering things. Put it this way, I plan to spend the day either reading or doing a time lapse of a painting, which is in no way going to look as artistic as I think it will because I am a hobby artist. It will be fun either way!
Back to the doughnuts, I devoured the smiley face doughnut whilst simultaneously sinking my teeth into the book I bought last Friday: "Diary of a somebody". So far I've read up until March, its damn good and freaking hilarious. The poetry is brilliant!
I then had the sudden impulse to walk along the seafront so I did that. I am based in a land-locked place so the sea feels like a refreshing sight. Suddenly I had the realisation that my bus was due to leave (today I could only be dropped off one-way so I had to get the bus back) in 10 mins so I soniced up to the stop and spent the journey reading with my headphones in. It sounds like a stupid decision but busses make me sleepy so the music helps me stay awake and reading defeats the object because it makes me zone out. Either way, I've only screwed up my journey 6 ish times by doing this so...I'm going to keep doing it. What's the worst that could happen? (famous last words but that's besides the point)
I think that was a pretty decent way to spend the daylight portion of my day, as I'm writing this, I'm thinking that I will be productive and read something "useful" like an article about literary criticism because my English teacher converted me into a potential non-fiction reader. Actually no, that's not true, he's sparked my interest in literary criticism and I need to remember to ask for another book recommendation at some point. I'll say that and completely forget because I'm me. Yet another tangent, wow!
Knowing me, I'll spend my evening on social media and watch a few baking compilations until I fall asleep. On that note "knowing me", do I know me? Existential crisis point reached, I'm tired lol.
So that's all for today, thanks for reading and I'll see you in the next post.
Today felt like what I imagine the last good day before the apocalypse would be like. Weird. We all kinda had a feeling that the UK would eventually go into preparation mode but we weren't sure when exactly that would be. Well folks, as the result of yesterday's news about not going to all of the exciting places like theatres and pubs, we are officially in prep-mode. So what did this mean for me? Making the most of my last day of actual freedom. Yes, I said to myself "if today is the last day of freedom for a while, not only am I going to prep but I am going to socialise and have a lot of fun!"
So I didn't come to college via public transport for the first time in...how long? I got dropped off and it felt weird but on the plus side, it gave me a good hour to listen to quality music in the form of: Cavetown, Lady Gaga, Sara Bareilles, the strike, Panic! at the disco, Brandi Carlile and the &Juliet cast recording. A bit of everything but screw it, a good song is a good song no matter the artist (she says as she has just listed artists, much irony).
I ended up getting to college 2 hours early because my driver (otherwise known as a parent because I haven't got my licence yet) couldn't drop me off any later. Fear not, I had things to do. Namely homework that I spent the weekend productively procrastinating. I have decided that productive procrastination is a thing as I ended up DIYing a denim jacket. Feeling a bit too cocky, I put my book on the side thinking that I wouldn't need a full 2 hours to complete the reading/note taking homework. I was so wrong. It turns out that anything written by a literary critic needs to be translated into English. Basically, at the end of 2 hours, I traipsed over to Early Modern History with a page yet to be translated.
Student teachers are always interesting. I have to admit, I felt bad for the guy because he told us that he only found out that he would be teaching the lesson an hour before. Fun times! We spent the best part of said hour making mind-maps in groups about either the peasants or the upper class, focusing on what impact the French Revolution had on them. My group were assigned the peasants and not only did we make a mind map but we ranked the gains and losses in order of significance. Riveting stuff I know but try to contain your excitement because it gets so much better. The sub didn't come with puns and jokes like we are all accustomed to but he was nice all the same, if a bit quiet. That being said, I respect the quietness. It must be truly terrifying to not only be teaching 6th former's but winging it with a lesson plan you've only recently received, well done sub! You did yourself proud. Bonus: we left class at 11:30!
I spent my extra time in the library, trying to translate the dreaded page and make notes in half an hour. Success! I even had enough time to borrow 5 books (Lord of the flies, The perks of being a wallflower, To kill a mocking bird, One flew over the cuckoos nest and The colour purple) before meeting up with a friend and discussing life stuff. I might start calling Tuesday lunchtimes "life lunches" because we always end up having deep conversations (which I thoroughly enjoy). Although he is interested in a local eco-club so I might have to re-think the re-name if I decide to join him. Lets face it, I probably will.
Then along came English and thus came the exclamation of "fuck me" under my breath as I realised that the homework I spent all morning doing and all weekend procrastinating, wasn't due until next Friday. Well done me for mucking up timings yet again! I love studying "Othello" but I must admit, a romantic comedy would do a better job at keeping everyone's spirits up i.e. "Much ado about nothing" or better still "A midsummer nights dream". Just saying. Anyway English was as awesome as usual #favelessonoftheday . To be fair, I wouldn't have picked it if I didn't like it...moving on to the actual prep-part of my day...
I decided to make the most of the fact that I am currently still able to leave the house by walking all the way into town. It took me an hour and my fingers went purple, it was so worth it!!! Of course I did what any normal person would do to fix the hand situation, I bought a bottle of mango juice because logic. I had been lucky to have been kindly gifted enough money to get 2 books so I made a bee-line for waterstones. Upon arrival, I rushed upstairs to the sci-fi section (I've recently become obsessed with dystopian fiction) to find THE BOOK. They had it! I got my mits on the last copy of "The library of the unwritten" having looked for it for the past 2 weeks. Once I got out of fangirl mode, I picked up a copy of "Aristotle and Dante discover the secrets of the universe" and headed over to Krispy Kreme.
They are now selling smiley face doughnuts because apparently Saturday is world happiness day, I'm wondering how exactly that one's going to go considering things. Put it this way, I plan to spend the day either reading or doing a time lapse of a painting, which is in no way going to look as artistic as I think it will because I am a hobby artist. It will be fun either way!
Back to the doughnuts, I devoured the smiley face doughnut whilst simultaneously sinking my teeth into the book I bought last Friday: "Diary of a somebody". So far I've read up until March, its damn good and freaking hilarious. The poetry is brilliant!
I then had the sudden impulse to walk along the seafront so I did that. I am based in a land-locked place so the sea feels like a refreshing sight. Suddenly I had the realisation that my bus was due to leave (today I could only be dropped off one-way so I had to get the bus back) in 10 mins so I soniced up to the stop and spent the journey reading with my headphones in. It sounds like a stupid decision but busses make me sleepy so the music helps me stay awake and reading defeats the object because it makes me zone out. Either way, I've only screwed up my journey 6 ish times by doing this so...I'm going to keep doing it. What's the worst that could happen? (famous last words but that's besides the point)
I think that was a pretty decent way to spend the daylight portion of my day, as I'm writing this, I'm thinking that I will be productive and read something "useful" like an article about literary criticism because my English teacher converted me into a potential non-fiction reader. Actually no, that's not true, he's sparked my interest in literary criticism and I need to remember to ask for another book recommendation at some point. I'll say that and completely forget because I'm me. Yet another tangent, wow!
Knowing me, I'll spend my evening on social media and watch a few baking compilations until I fall asleep. On that note "knowing me", do I know me? Existential crisis point reached, I'm tired lol.
So that's all for today, thanks for reading and I'll see you in the next post.
16/03/2020
I'm back!!!
Hi Everyone,
so as you all probably know, the world has gone into shut down mode as the result of a deadly virus. Fear not! My blog is back and I am back online to keep you company.
This blog is getting a bit of a re-vamp, not only will I be talking about theatre books but now I will be talking about...everything.
Basically this blog is going to become more of a life blog so enjoy!
I am going to be posting more regularly as I have now found myself with a fair amount of free time so that's also awesome news!
If you have any suggestions for posts or if there is anything you want my opinion on either leave it in the comments below or hit me up on my social medias.
My twitter is @bookish_hound
and
the Instagram for this blog is @words.ofworlds
I will be doing a poll somewhere in the future to decide whether or not to keep the name of this blog.
See you in the next post
-Amello
so as you all probably know, the world has gone into shut down mode as the result of a deadly virus. Fear not! My blog is back and I am back online to keep you company.
This blog is getting a bit of a re-vamp, not only will I be talking about theatre books but now I will be talking about...everything.
Basically this blog is going to become more of a life blog so enjoy!
I am going to be posting more regularly as I have now found myself with a fair amount of free time so that's also awesome news!
If you have any suggestions for posts or if there is anything you want my opinion on either leave it in the comments below or hit me up on my social medias.
My twitter is @bookish_hound
and
the Instagram for this blog is @words.ofworlds
I will be doing a poll somewhere in the future to decide whether or not to keep the name of this blog.
See you in the next post
-Amello
16/02/2020
Hiatus
Hello everyone,
this is just an announcement to say that I have decided to go on hiatus until...who knows?
I've been lucky enough to have been given a lot of opportunity's in my real-world life, which is incredible but it also means that I don't have enough time to commit to this blog as much as I would like to.
Once a few of the projects have ended or when I finally have some time to dedicate to making this blog the best it can be, I shall return.
Thank you all so much for following my blog over the past 5 ish months!
See you in the future
-Amello
this is just an announcement to say that I have decided to go on hiatus until...who knows?
I've been lucky enough to have been given a lot of opportunity's in my real-world life, which is incredible but it also means that I don't have enough time to commit to this blog as much as I would like to.
Once a few of the projects have ended or when I finally have some time to dedicate to making this blog the best it can be, I shall return.
Thank you all so much for following my blog over the past 5 ish months!
See you in the future
-Amello
10/02/2020
My mysterious book phase
Hello everyone, Amello here! its been a while and life stuff meant I couldn't post last week. To make up for that, this week you get a triple post so let's get straight into it.
Strong language alert!
In my post about graphic novels, I mentioned a really long and mysterious book phase that I entered, so I'm going to start where I left off in that post. In year 7 I ventured into the playground and honestly it was a minefield. Luckily I managed to revive an old, dead friendship and the result changed a lot of aspects of my life. So this girl who I was friends with in my primary school, then wasn't, then reconnected with, happened to be obsessed with "manga". I had never heard of it before (for those of you who don't know what it is, basically it's Japanese graphic novels) so she introduced me into this new world. We spent many a lunchtime talking about which manga's would be good to start off with and what the difference is between manga and anime. Yes, if you were wondering, she's the girl who was responsible for my love of anime.
Having talked about reading manga for a solid month, I decided it was finally time to actually read some. I found myself back in the library because they had a whole shelf full of random manga. The first one I read was called "Yotsuba&!", it was the weirdest thing I had ever read not just because of the actual story-line but because the book seemed to be back to front. Manga takes a while to learn how to read but once the skill has been mastered, you can pretty much read anything.
Anyway when I ran out of books (again!) I made a beeline for Waterstones and bought my first book. This was a major deal because it was the first time I bought a book without parental permission. Yay independence!! I made my way over to the manga section and...I had no idea where to start. Suddenly this woman came up to me and asked me if I needed help picking out a book, which I really did. Damn she knew a lot. She helped me find age appropriate manga because I was 12 years old at the time, the books I ended up buying were "the legend of Sakura Hime" and "Sailor moon". These books ended up being my all time favourite manga's and I still love them, even though I don't read manga as much as I used to.
My manga phase pissed off a lot of teachers. I had the same English teacher in year 7 and 8, she saw me enter this new, exciting world and told me that I was wasting my time. Is it me or is it a theme amongst English teachers to say that manga "aren't proper books"? and a theme amongst art teachers to say that the manga art-style "isn't real art"? It's ridiculous how many times my English teacher would ask me to talk to her after class about what I chose to read. It's even more ridiculous how she said that my grades would continue to suck if I kept reading them. Naturally I did what any tween/teen would do, ignore her completely. I thought I could prove a point. I didn't. All I really achieved was proving both of us wrong, my grades stayed the same.
Jump forward to year 9. I began my new high-school reading manga's and it was honestly such a big mistake. Let me put it this way, don't read manga during reading time in high-school unless you want to get your books confiscated. After a month of refusing to read anything else, my new teacher essentially banned me from reading manga because he claimed that they didn't count as "actual books". He did his best to stop me from reading them all-together by recommending alternatives but I ended up reading them in secret. At the time I was beyond annoyed by this but looking back, I am grateful that he did it. I pushed myself to read "normal books" whilst reading graphic novels and manga on the side, this eventually helped me excel in English.
The switch also seriously broadened my vocabulary and generally made my creative writing a lot better. It led me to essentially becoming a serious book nerd and I began to become known for never being seen without a book in my hand. The library was once again my habitat for 3 years. Sidetracked again, back to the manga...
I gradually began to switch back and fourth between manga and anime. I bought a few independent manga's from MCM comic con, which I went to 2 years in a row.
Fast forward to last year and I ended up becoming what I like to call an "Otaku guide", this basically means that I was helping other people get into manga and anime rather than reading/watching it myself. I made friends with a girl from a Waterstones book club and we ended up being friends for 6 months before an event, which ended our friendship. That's beside the point, the point is that we did a book exchange. I returned the book that I borrowed on the date we set but she didn't because she said that she accidentally left them at home. I lent her 5 books and I never got a single one back (I'm not bitter about it, I just feel like I'm missing 5 small parts of myself, which makes me kind of sad. More about my sentimentality towards books in a later post)
In part that's the reason why I am not to keen to return to reading those books. The other part is that I am too in love with every other type of book and I've grown a lot since the beginnings of the phase (which was 5 years long). Don't get me wrong on occasions I pick up a manga, more recently I read "Our dreams at dusk" volumes 1-4, but it wouldn't be my first choice of book
With all that said, what manga do I like? Fantasy, drama, slice of life and romance. Basically I have the same taste across the board when it comes to books with the exception of sci-fi, which I much prefer as a manga, graphic novel or comic.
Unlike with graphic novels, I tended to read series manga. "The legend of Sakura Hime" was the longest series I read. I honestly don't know how long the series is but I ended up reading 6 books from it, which for me is a milestone.
So am I an Otaku? Not really, I can still geek out about manga and anime but that's because I was in the fandom for a long time and acquired a lot of knowledge. That being said, I don't dismiss the phase because it consumed my imagination during those 5 years and made me feel less alone in the world. Also I don't hate manga/anime and I am still willing and happy to help those of you who are looking to enter these worlds.
So what am I trying to say? Even though I am not currently an Otaku, there will always be a part of me that is.
That's all for today . Thank you so much for reading. Stay tuned because in a day or two I'll be discussing "& Juliet the musical"...
Strong language alert!
In my post about graphic novels, I mentioned a really long and mysterious book phase that I entered, so I'm going to start where I left off in that post. In year 7 I ventured into the playground and honestly it was a minefield. Luckily I managed to revive an old, dead friendship and the result changed a lot of aspects of my life. So this girl who I was friends with in my primary school, then wasn't, then reconnected with, happened to be obsessed with "manga". I had never heard of it before (for those of you who don't know what it is, basically it's Japanese graphic novels) so she introduced me into this new world. We spent many a lunchtime talking about which manga's would be good to start off with and what the difference is between manga and anime. Yes, if you were wondering, she's the girl who was responsible for my love of anime.
Having talked about reading manga for a solid month, I decided it was finally time to actually read some. I found myself back in the library because they had a whole shelf full of random manga. The first one I read was called "Yotsuba&!", it was the weirdest thing I had ever read not just because of the actual story-line but because the book seemed to be back to front. Manga takes a while to learn how to read but once the skill has been mastered, you can pretty much read anything.
Anyway when I ran out of books (again!) I made a beeline for Waterstones and bought my first book. This was a major deal because it was the first time I bought a book without parental permission. Yay independence!! I made my way over to the manga section and...I had no idea where to start. Suddenly this woman came up to me and asked me if I needed help picking out a book, which I really did. Damn she knew a lot. She helped me find age appropriate manga because I was 12 years old at the time, the books I ended up buying were "the legend of Sakura Hime" and "Sailor moon". These books ended up being my all time favourite manga's and I still love them, even though I don't read manga as much as I used to.
My manga phase pissed off a lot of teachers. I had the same English teacher in year 7 and 8, she saw me enter this new, exciting world and told me that I was wasting my time. Is it me or is it a theme amongst English teachers to say that manga "aren't proper books"? and a theme amongst art teachers to say that the manga art-style "isn't real art"? It's ridiculous how many times my English teacher would ask me to talk to her after class about what I chose to read. It's even more ridiculous how she said that my grades would continue to suck if I kept reading them. Naturally I did what any tween/teen would do, ignore her completely. I thought I could prove a point. I didn't. All I really achieved was proving both of us wrong, my grades stayed the same.
Jump forward to year 9. I began my new high-school reading manga's and it was honestly such a big mistake. Let me put it this way, don't read manga during reading time in high-school unless you want to get your books confiscated. After a month of refusing to read anything else, my new teacher essentially banned me from reading manga because he claimed that they didn't count as "actual books". He did his best to stop me from reading them all-together by recommending alternatives but I ended up reading them in secret. At the time I was beyond annoyed by this but looking back, I am grateful that he did it. I pushed myself to read "normal books" whilst reading graphic novels and manga on the side, this eventually helped me excel in English.
The switch also seriously broadened my vocabulary and generally made my creative writing a lot better. It led me to essentially becoming a serious book nerd and I began to become known for never being seen without a book in my hand. The library was once again my habitat for 3 years. Sidetracked again, back to the manga...
I gradually began to switch back and fourth between manga and anime. I bought a few independent manga's from MCM comic con, which I went to 2 years in a row.
Fast forward to last year and I ended up becoming what I like to call an "Otaku guide", this basically means that I was helping other people get into manga and anime rather than reading/watching it myself. I made friends with a girl from a Waterstones book club and we ended up being friends for 6 months before an event, which ended our friendship. That's beside the point, the point is that we did a book exchange. I returned the book that I borrowed on the date we set but she didn't because she said that she accidentally left them at home. I lent her 5 books and I never got a single one back (I'm not bitter about it, I just feel like I'm missing 5 small parts of myself, which makes me kind of sad. More about my sentimentality towards books in a later post)
In part that's the reason why I am not to keen to return to reading those books. The other part is that I am too in love with every other type of book and I've grown a lot since the beginnings of the phase (which was 5 years long). Don't get me wrong on occasions I pick up a manga, more recently I read "Our dreams at dusk" volumes 1-4, but it wouldn't be my first choice of book
With all that said, what manga do I like? Fantasy, drama, slice of life and romance. Basically I have the same taste across the board when it comes to books with the exception of sci-fi, which I much prefer as a manga, graphic novel or comic.
Unlike with graphic novels, I tended to read series manga. "The legend of Sakura Hime" was the longest series I read. I honestly don't know how long the series is but I ended up reading 6 books from it, which for me is a milestone.
So am I an Otaku? Not really, I can still geek out about manga and anime but that's because I was in the fandom for a long time and acquired a lot of knowledge. That being said, I don't dismiss the phase because it consumed my imagination during those 5 years and made me feel less alone in the world. Also I don't hate manga/anime and I am still willing and happy to help those of you who are looking to enter these worlds.
So what am I trying to say? Even though I am not currently an Otaku, there will always be a part of me that is.
That's all for today . Thank you so much for reading. Stay tuned because in a day or two I'll be discussing "& Juliet the musical"...
25/01/2020
Yass Queens!!
Hello everyone, Amello here! Welcome back to Words of Worlds. This week we will be discussing "Six the musical: tour", which I recently saw at Chichester festival theatre.
So before we jump into the show itself, I have a few confessions to make. I only heard about the show when the performance video of "ex-wives" was posted onto Youtube and after watching the video I decided that I wasn't overly keen on seeing the show because it really didn't look like my kind of thing. Strange, I know considering "Hamilton" but each to their own.
For a long time, I avoided it like the plague but there comes a time in every actor/actress's life (This time being from September to November last year, when I was still acting) when they have to work with people who are obsessed with that 1 musical. The result of this being that I heard so, so, so many reasons why it was worth seeing that I finally caved and decided to put it as number 6 on my list of shows to see in 2020. I was gifted a ticket for Christmas, which I was grateful for because I realised that I could finally determine whether my theatrical instincts were right. Oh they were so very wrong.
*Side note: It was one of the only times I first listened to the soundtrack the night before. I wasn't impressed, more about that later...
Let's discuss the show itself, however before we begin, SPOILER ALERT! BAD LANGUAGE ALERT! SEX REFERENCES ALERT!
The program, who the fuck charges £8 for a program?! Luckily it was actually decent, those of you who have seen "Hamilton" will know that they have a cheap program but you have to pay extra for a book of photos from the show, show photos and some lyrics, as well as fan art, was included in this program so its a really nice keepsake. It also included a history section written by Lucy Worsley, if you study history, you will know that she is a very marmite historian. I am still forming an opinion about her because I love her book "Eliza Rose" but I think her documentary's are overrated.
In case you were wondering, I do study History as well as English.
The staging wasn't that impressive. They literally had access to a hexagon of space and they didn't use all of it, acting 101: fill the space! Before you say "Oi, that's the pop concert aspect!" they are performing in theatres not arenas, they should take full advantage of that space. That being said, the simplicity of the set (they used coloured lights) in contrast to the detail of the costumes really works.
They made up for the lack of stage usage by their impeccable use of audience interaction. I felt like I was actually at a concert, which is what they were going for so well done.
The story-line of the show really worked but didn't at the same time, allow me to explain. It's basically about the 6 wives of Henry music-battling each-other to decide which Queen is the most significant before deciding after they have all sung their songs that the entire idea is stupid, that they can re-write their endings because they have a microphone and that they should be friends instead of enemies. Fair enough, good story-line but it really goes wrong because they don't seem to be able to decide on their target audience. There are aspects of the show that could be considered to be child friendly but overall I think it should have an age restriction of at least 12 upwards simply because of the numerous references to adultery and various deaths. Put it this way, don't include a hanging reference and a threesome reference in a show meant for...who knows.
On to the music...So "Ex-wives" is my least favourite song because I am not what could be described as a pop music girl. Sure, I like some pop songs but it isn't really my main genre. In fact, I don't think I have a music genre, I listen to a bit of everything. Sidetracked, back to the point, it feels a bit un-necessary if we are saying that the audience is 12 up, to state the fact that 5 of them are ex-wives. We already know this. In fact, the fact that all 6 of the Queens sing this song annoys me because Catherine Parr wasn't an ex-wife.
"No way" is an absolute killer song! Catherine of Aragon is a straight-up bad-ass, I love how defiant she is with this song. You can clearly hear how annoyed and confrontational she is. This song is also insanely catchy.
Moving on to the most ironic song of the lot "Don't lose your head". Again a quality song but I have to talk about Boleyn. I find it really annoying how many times she mentions the fact that she lost her head. She literally says it throughout the show, there's got to be more to her than that! The song makes her sound crazy immature and she acts like a child throughout the show. If anyone knows how old she was when she married Henry, please let me know.
Then we come to my favourite song "Heart of stone". Honestly it is so beautiful and when I saw it live I was moved to tears. Listen to it.
"Haus of Holbein" was just weird.
"Get down" is the song I recommend to every rap music fan and every "Hamilton" fan. Before you say it, I know, I have made so many references to that musical and I shouldn't be comparing them because they are in leagues of their own but I honestly can't think of anything non-lin related to compare it to.
The most uncomfortable song is by far "All you wanna do". I get that she is supposed to be sexy but still "13 going on 30" makes me gag because of how wrong it is in this context. Don't get me wrong, I don't mind listening to this song but sometimes it's a bit like OMG this is just too wrong. I'll give it credit for being historically accurate though. I also need to address the character of Howard. In the show she is an absolute bitch and I really don't like her.
A really controversial song is "I don't need your love". I feel torn listening to it because Parr is so desperately trying to confront Henry whilst also having to say goodbye to her true love. It's so sad that she couldn't be with the person who held her heart. It's even worse that she knows how trapped she is. This song just gives all of the feels.
Back to the original pop music with a bit of a remix "Six". There's not much to say about this one other than it ties up the show really well.
The actresses are phenomenal! Their voices are truly amazing! Props to them for their impeccable acting. Even more props to the fact that it is an all-female cast.
Is this show informative? Heck yes, I never learned about the wives in school so I learned a lot. Is the historically accurate? Yes, I know this because I saw it with someone who knows a fair amount about the wives. Is it worth watching? Yes, despite my many, many complaints, I actually love the show and highly recommend it.
Have you seen Six? Who was your favourite wife? What was your favourite song? What do you think about the staging? How do you feel about the new influx of historical musicals? Please feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments.
2020 book challenge: I decided not to continue with The Nerd Daily's challenge because I didn't get on well with the categories. Instead I have decided to try and reach 100 books this year. As of right now, I have read 21 books so I think I might actually reach my goal this year,
Ticket update: I have now acquired tickets to see a show called "Ask me anything"
That's all for now, thank you so much for reading, stay tuned as next week I'll be discussing that "mysterious book phase" that I mentioned numerous times in my last post (otherwise known as my longest book phase)...
So before we jump into the show itself, I have a few confessions to make. I only heard about the show when the performance video of "ex-wives" was posted onto Youtube and after watching the video I decided that I wasn't overly keen on seeing the show because it really didn't look like my kind of thing. Strange, I know considering "Hamilton" but each to their own.
For a long time, I avoided it like the plague but there comes a time in every actor/actress's life (This time being from September to November last year, when I was still acting) when they have to work with people who are obsessed with that 1 musical. The result of this being that I heard so, so, so many reasons why it was worth seeing that I finally caved and decided to put it as number 6 on my list of shows to see in 2020. I was gifted a ticket for Christmas, which I was grateful for because I realised that I could finally determine whether my theatrical instincts were right. Oh they were so very wrong.
*Side note: It was one of the only times I first listened to the soundtrack the night before. I wasn't impressed, more about that later...
Let's discuss the show itself, however before we begin, SPOILER ALERT! BAD LANGUAGE ALERT! SEX REFERENCES ALERT!
The program, who the fuck charges £8 for a program?! Luckily it was actually decent, those of you who have seen "Hamilton" will know that they have a cheap program but you have to pay extra for a book of photos from the show, show photos and some lyrics, as well as fan art, was included in this program so its a really nice keepsake. It also included a history section written by Lucy Worsley, if you study history, you will know that she is a very marmite historian. I am still forming an opinion about her because I love her book "Eliza Rose" but I think her documentary's are overrated.
In case you were wondering, I do study History as well as English.
The staging wasn't that impressive. They literally had access to a hexagon of space and they didn't use all of it, acting 101: fill the space! Before you say "Oi, that's the pop concert aspect!" they are performing in theatres not arenas, they should take full advantage of that space. That being said, the simplicity of the set (they used coloured lights) in contrast to the detail of the costumes really works.
They made up for the lack of stage usage by their impeccable use of audience interaction. I felt like I was actually at a concert, which is what they were going for so well done.
The story-line of the show really worked but didn't at the same time, allow me to explain. It's basically about the 6 wives of Henry music-battling each-other to decide which Queen is the most significant before deciding after they have all sung their songs that the entire idea is stupid, that they can re-write their endings because they have a microphone and that they should be friends instead of enemies. Fair enough, good story-line but it really goes wrong because they don't seem to be able to decide on their target audience. There are aspects of the show that could be considered to be child friendly but overall I think it should have an age restriction of at least 12 upwards simply because of the numerous references to adultery and various deaths. Put it this way, don't include a hanging reference and a threesome reference in a show meant for...who knows.
On to the music...So "Ex-wives" is my least favourite song because I am not what could be described as a pop music girl. Sure, I like some pop songs but it isn't really my main genre. In fact, I don't think I have a music genre, I listen to a bit of everything. Sidetracked, back to the point, it feels a bit un-necessary if we are saying that the audience is 12 up, to state the fact that 5 of them are ex-wives. We already know this. In fact, the fact that all 6 of the Queens sing this song annoys me because Catherine Parr wasn't an ex-wife.
"No way" is an absolute killer song! Catherine of Aragon is a straight-up bad-ass, I love how defiant she is with this song. You can clearly hear how annoyed and confrontational she is. This song is also insanely catchy.
Then we come to my favourite song "Heart of stone". Honestly it is so beautiful and when I saw it live I was moved to tears. Listen to it.
"Haus of Holbein" was just weird.
"Get down" is the song I recommend to every rap music fan and every "Hamilton" fan. Before you say it, I know, I have made so many references to that musical and I shouldn't be comparing them because they are in leagues of their own but I honestly can't think of anything non-lin related to compare it to.
The most uncomfortable song is by far "All you wanna do". I get that she is supposed to be sexy but still "13 going on 30" makes me gag because of how wrong it is in this context. Don't get me wrong, I don't mind listening to this song but sometimes it's a bit like OMG this is just too wrong. I'll give it credit for being historically accurate though. I also need to address the character of Howard. In the show she is an absolute bitch and I really don't like her.
A really controversial song is "I don't need your love". I feel torn listening to it because Parr is so desperately trying to confront Henry whilst also having to say goodbye to her true love. It's so sad that she couldn't be with the person who held her heart. It's even worse that she knows how trapped she is. This song just gives all of the feels.
Back to the original pop music with a bit of a remix "Six". There's not much to say about this one other than it ties up the show really well.
The actresses are phenomenal! Their voices are truly amazing! Props to them for their impeccable acting. Even more props to the fact that it is an all-female cast.
Is this show informative? Heck yes, I never learned about the wives in school so I learned a lot. Is the historically accurate? Yes, I know this because I saw it with someone who knows a fair amount about the wives. Is it worth watching? Yes, despite my many, many complaints, I actually love the show and highly recommend it.
Have you seen Six? Who was your favourite wife? What was your favourite song? What do you think about the staging? How do you feel about the new influx of historical musicals? Please feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments.
2020 book challenge: I decided not to continue with The Nerd Daily's challenge because I didn't get on well with the categories. Instead I have decided to try and reach 100 books this year. As of right now, I have read 21 books so I think I might actually reach my goal this year,
Ticket update: I have now acquired tickets to see a show called "Ask me anything"
That's all for now, thank you so much for reading, stay tuned as next week I'll be discussing that "mysterious book phase" that I mentioned numerous times in my last post (otherwise known as my longest book phase)...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)