Tango's Diary

In the best traditions of emerging once every few months to let the world know I'm still alive -- I'm still alive! However, my brain is still fried as sleep continues to elude me, and so all creative activities remain firmly on ice. TangoSon is a lovely curious baby who (1) absolutely refuses to sleep when there is so much excitement in the world and (2) has silent reflux, which means he's never fully comfortable. A bit of a double whammy in the sleep department! Consequently, his poor parents haven't had more than 2-3 hours of sleep at a stretch for the last 6 months. A few more months of this and Amnesty International might start to take an interest in our case!

Ah well, who needs sleep when there's a TangoSon in your life? :D

If anyone is wondering where I've been over the past few/many months, I feel I should make a bit of an announcement: baby TangoSon (um, not his real name :D) was born two weeks ago today. Whoo! So not much cerebral activity from me in the near future, but if there's any interest I can post bits and pieces about him and me and our experiences as I go. I wrote an email to a friend at one point about the birth, parts of which I'm happy to re-post. I've been toying with the notion of making a blog for him, but at this point life is happening on a 2-hour rotational schedule, with around the clock feeds and changes, so that project is unlikely to take off in a hurry. We'll see.

"Love Never Dies" aka POTO2 has started playing in London (I'd completely forgotten all about it) and it's even more of a badfic than expected. This amuses me deeply, but I appreciate that others may feel rather differently when faced with the entire extent of the inanity that is Erik-the-single-dad and er, other exciting developments.

Read more here. Not for the emotionally vulnerable. ;)

http://community.livejournal.com/ohnotheydidnt/44329696.html

Even if this thing crashes and burns in its first week, it still makes me wonder ... why would someone (ie ALW) do this to their own past work? Character assassination is usually best left to well-meaning fanfic writers. :D

Mwahahaha!! This girl has serious talent.

Pinched from logansrogue -- some of the prettiest and shiniest bacteria you're ever likely to see!

It's almost (but not quite) up there with the PhD title "The role of Vitamin D in beta-cell function" expressed through interpretive dance. 'Nuff said.

...Meanwhile, speaking of science PR (or public engagement, as it's optimistically called), the project I'm on got highlighted in The Times last month: Scientists turn DNA detectives to track spread of hospital superbugs. So for those of you wondering what on earth I'm actually doing when I go for months without a single LJ entry... now you know. Uh, sort of. :D

Aaaaand here is Ramin Karimloo, singing the very boring repetitive sedate number from "Love Never Dies", imaginatively entitled "Till I Hear You Sing (Once More)".

Is it me, or should be called "Tomorrow Never Dies"? See, I said it sounded like a Bond flick! But quite seriously, this is altogether too reminiscent of "Tomorrow" from "Annie"... I may not have the world's best musical ear, but even I can hear the similarities.



The other clip from LND that's doing the rounds is the Coney Island Theme, which I won't embed here, even though it's actually worth watching, primarily for the old footage of fairground rides (looking familiar from my childhood -- I swear I'm not that old!). The music itself sounds like an extended version of the "circus" flashback in the POTO2004 film, which means it does the job, even though it's not particularly memorable.

But if this "Tomorrow Never Dies" number sets the tone for the show, I'll be hanging on to my cash. Yawwwwn.

ETA: Ahhh!! I thought parts of the Coney Island music reminded me of somethng as well -- of course. It's Francis Lai's famous theme from the film "Love Story". There is a YouTube performance here.

The tickets to ALW's dubious new opus, "Love Never Dies" -- aka Phantom-2 -- went on sale about 15 mins ago, and it seems quite difficult to find available allocation. Which suggests that either everyone is madly parting with their £67.50 per seat, or these tickets will later turn up on ebay.

Much as I'd love to sit in the dress circle on opening night and snigger contentedly to myself... I think at these prices, I'll wait until the inevitable 2-for-1 offer comes along. And if it doesn't, well, I can live without it.

In other news, Keith Allen, aka Sheriff of Nottingham, is appearing in a revival of "The Comedians" in London. Now that, ladies and gentlemen, I will very happily pay to see. And even more happily for me, it's a quarter the price of ALW's folly. :D

One of the perks of living close to London is having the opportunity to indulge the fangirl in me *and* the theatre fan all at once. :D And thus, my interest in "Robin Hood" alerted me to the fact that Tom Stoppard's wonderful "Arcadia" was on at the Duke of York theatre, complete with Lucy Griffiths (=Marian) in a fairly minor role.

The play, in case anyone cares, was superb -- hilarious and thought-provoking and dense. Perhaps a little too dense, in fact, because there is just so much in the dialogue that it's impossible to process everything in one viewing. It'd be interesting to get the text and read it more slowly.

Unintentionally, B and I ended up outside the stage door afterwards (it turned out to be near the bathroom) and saw several of the actors leaving. B was most put out that I waited a good 10 mins before telling him that the girl who brushed past him was "Marian"! :D (B: "My brush with fame.")

And once again, I am enamoured of a Margaret Atwood poem... It really is a wonder that her poetry is so layered and light and alive, when her prose feels so belaboured and over-egged. But no matter, because the poetry makes up for it.

Today's gem is the ultimate explanation for the eternal allure of hurt/comfort fanfic. :D

Siren Song

This is the one song everyone
would like to learn: the song
that is irresistible:

the song that forces men
to leap overboard in squadrons
even though they see beached skulls

the song nobody knows
because anyone who had heard it
is dead, and the others can’t remember.
Shall I tell you the secret
and if I do, will you get me
out of this bird suit?
I don’t enjoy it here
squatting on this island
looking picturesque and mythical
with these two feathery maniacs,
I don’t enjoy singing
this trio, fatal and valuable.

I will tell the secret to you,
to you, only to you.
Come closer. This song

is a cry for help: Help me!
Only you, only you can,
you are unique

at last. Alas
it is a boring song
but it works every time.

I'm slightly into the BBC "Robin Hood" at the moment, all because Season 3 Tortured!Guy managed to hit me squarely in my reformed-baddie fetish (angst + leather + eyeliner = lethal combination). So on that note, here's one of the best music videos I've seen for Guy - if only there were more videos of this quality for POTO... Warning: spoilers galore right up to the end of the show, and enough angst to down a horse.