Oliver/'It's about spending time together'

A gorgeous short animated film by a friend of mine called Ainslie. I adore his voice anyway, and these film provides charmingly heartbreaking few minutes. And a great and rather toothy/bald self-portrait.

It's about spending time together. from ainslie henderson on Vimeo.

14 actors acting, and a partridge in a pear tree

Stumbled across this today, The New York Times's (silent) video homage to classic screen types entitled 14 Actors Acting and they are as beautiful as they are fascinating. And, to top it all off the music was composed by none other than Owen Pallett. Those of you who know me will know that he is one of my ideal idols.

So, without further ado, here are a few of my favourite short films; James Franco, Michael Douglas, Tilda Swinton (who i love) and Anthony Mackie









P.s as one astute person commented on the James Franco video; "James Franco kissing James Franco? I LOVE IT"
p.p.s sorry about the distinct lack of feathers, i'm afraid that was just for the namesake. Also, i am feeling rather christmassy as i watched the Grinch last night.

Why one should never call Sainsburys customer service.

I needed some battery powered fairy lights, so i called Sainsburys;



me: "do you have battery powered fairy lights?"

sainsbury's assistant "No... we have toothbrushes?"

me: "what, sorry?",

her "battery powered toothbrushes".

?

All things Everything Everything

The lovely Everything Everything, perfectly described by BBC'S Alix Buscovic as "willfully eccentric and endlessly entertaining." He explains that "They know more than most how to craft a song, how to make an album. They know how to give it depth, light and dark, and they - crucially- know when to stop". In a nutshell, they're ace.

A lovely friend managed to squeeze me onto the guestlist for the otherwise sold out gig at The Deaf Institute earlier this month. It was truly excellent... i always love seeing things in Deaf Institute, it's such a lovely venue and is usually filled with equally lovely and jovial people. Albeit there may have been one minor incident; i had a pint of beer poured over me, but i wasn't bothered- it actually provided sweet, cold relief from the heat at the foot of the stage. (Oh, and just for the record, beer man wasn't aiming for me). Anywho, having spent far too much time in my room dancing about to their (excellent) album Man Alive, there was no way that i wasn't going to enjoy it. Luckily, even my friends who had only heard the infamous Suffragette Suffragette enjoyed it no end. Perhaps even a little more, as one friend, still glowing the next day (Aside; this is the same friend who asked me to see the new HP with him, re: the last blog post i did ) informed me that they're also playing at the Royal Northern College of Music with a full orchestra and that i had to buy a ticket otherwise we would no longer be friends. I haven't got the ticket yet, but AS SOON as my money arrives from the lovely government (student, you see) then it'll be my first port of call.




Oh and why not put one of their tracks here too, video included.

NT or not NT

When my bleary eyes had just opened this morning i was sent a request by one of my best friends to join him in buying tickets to watch the next, and penultimate HP installment. I got searching and... long story short, i found this; NTLive . Now, i don't know about you, and it may be my old age creeping up on me, but this looks like a rather ingenious idea. I really wish i'd known about it sooner, it would've been most kind to me when i missed Tennant's infamous Hamlet (though luckily, the BBC cottoned onto that one for Christmas). Admittedly, that wasn't at the national, BUT it may have prompted me to look for more unmissable theatre and see it in an easier location (i am, as of last year residing in manchester and not london).

On an aside, almost somewhat related note... one of the 'film' productions showing is Nicholas Hytner's take on Hamlet which i was lucky enough to go and see actually at the National. Rory Kinnear really was astounding- to quote one newspaper quoting another "it is hard to take your eyes off him". And i can vouch for that.

I've wo/andered off topic.

p.s upon researching Kinnear i found out that he was Laertes to Ben Whishaw's Hamlet in 2004. If only i had known. That would, one would hope, have been truly exceptional.