Sesame Street: Cookie Monster In The Library

The gastronomically challenged Cookie Monster with a long suffering librarian.

Sometimes having a bit of insomnia pays off. I found this little gem. So sweet. I miss being 5.

Don't forget to visit The Old Library In Dubai if you are feeling nostalgic for the stacks in a library. Oh and bring the librarians some cookies!

Books you can read in a day - A "shaggy dog" story.

 

Books that won't take you this long to read.

Yes , yes, I know I have been quiet on the blog front. Picture me blowing a raspberry.

 

Over the last month or so I have been covering for Yvette Judge, who showed great faith in allowing me to stand in for her, on the Radio ( Dubai Eye 103.8). The EAFOL has a little gem of a slot on Mark Lloyd and Stef Burgon's show The Ticket in a segment called Bookmark. Mark and Stef have very kindly allowed me to rabbit on about books in a most self-indulgent way and have managed to not go glassy eyed in the process. A testament to their professionalism!

Change is in the air!

Guess what? Can’t? Well how could you not? Have I not hinted enough? You may, or may not, know that I have been in my current job for over 8 years.  Let that sink in a bit.....I handed in my notice this month. Want to know why?  I am going to start working at the Emirates Airlines Festival of Literature - EAFOL. A mental image now folks. Flick flacks, cartwheels, and a whole loud lung full of “Yee Ha’s”. You may remember me waxing lyrical HERE  and HERE about the festival.

I am treading the boards in the Backstage production of “Prelude to a Kiss”

The Kissers

What am I up to at the moment? You might well ask. And you should because as you know even if I am not blogging I am up to something. That makes me sound like I have adventures or get up to no good, and you all know that is about as far from me as it is possible to be. I do like the notion though. In line with being a dare devil adventurer (yeah right) I decided to take a bravery pill and audition for a play. Yes, for the first time in 20 odd years I am going on stage.
 

Promo “Unveiling” by Vaclav Havel - a comedy of social discomfort. DDG's Friends and other Strangers

A social visit between good friends?

A couple of months ago when I heard what the companion piece would be for our show I drew a blank. I would. I am a complete philistine. Now before you judge me too harshly, I do think that I have done a brilliant job of catching up from a wasted youth that consisted of a literary diet of mostly trashy romance novels.

The Zoo Story part of DDG's "Friends and Other Strangers" the long story

Bloody brilliant Actors - Toby Masson and Sanjeev Dixit

 

About a year ago I was up to my eyeballs in rehearsals with Toby Masson for “The Evils of Tobacco” for the Dubai Drama Groups short Play evening “ Chekhov’s Cigarette”. Last month we heard that “Chekhov’s Cigarette” had been shortlisted for the Dubai Timeout Nightlife awards in the Best Theatrical Performance category. I have already harped on about this but hey that will not stop me from doing so again in an effort to entice you into coming and seeing our next endeavor together.

THE DOUBLE BASS @ the Courtyard Playhouse SAT 21st March

Let me tell you something peeps, it kills me (figuratively, naturally) to promote anything where the performing dates are close to the performance dates of a production I am involved in. I cannot bear it that the public might have to choose between what I am doing and what someone else is doing. Furthermore, I am not altogether sure that my ego can cope with the (obviously) imagined slight if my show is not chosen as the "must see" production. But in this case I think that you will just have to blow your cash and time budgets and do both. More on what I am doing in a couple of days.....

Time Out Music and NightLife Awards - Guess who's shows got shortlisted?



Walking on Sunshine

You may notice the two highlighted shows - below. Those would be the two shows I was involved with last season for the Dubai Drama Group. In Chekhov's Cigarette I directed  the boundless talent of Toby Masson in The Harmful Effects of Tobacco SEE HERE .  There were three other shows, 10,000 Cigarettes,  The Proposal,  A Matter of Husbands and together we made up Chekhov's Cigarette and we were shortlisted for Best Theatrical Performance. Bells ringing and doing a little dance.

Chinese Animal Years and why I am now a non-person.

Cheerful Chinese Zodiac

Contrary to the very happy pictures above, I am not, happy that is. Here is the story.

 

I opened my 2015 diary received ,most gratefully, from one of our clients. They had a very clever idea. The diary is more like a series of pages that you can date yourself and are called Plan& Memo pages. I am one of those people that for the most part likes to follow rules. Logic and order make me feel safe and comfortable. I reserve my anarchic tendencies to my thoughts were they can run riot without offence or harm. I cannot, simply cannot, write on a page in a diary that is not the date that is printed on the page. I have been known to take a deep breath and record something on the wrong page but it hurts a bit. Nowadays with Microsoft outlook and smart phones we really do not need a proper diary. Which leaves companies that give out promotional diaries at the end of a year in a bit of a quandary and all those stationery sellers miserable over their sad end of year sales. So this idea is brilliant. And I do rather like it. Except for one thing. You know how in diaries you get pages of useless information like birthstones, wedding anniversaries, Clothing sizes and astrological signs. In my "diary" they also have Chinese Animal Years. "Hummmm" thought I "I wonder what animal I am." My life is full of deep thinking about important matters. I peruse the list of years. My year is not on the list. I have reached an age where my year is not worthy of being in print. So my dear people if you were born before 1969 you are not recorded. It is a sad day for me. I have reached the age of not being worthy of consideration in a diary.

 

Bryan and the Bike

Bryan being a MAMIL.

I may have mentioned that Bryan has taken up cycling. Actually I might not have. I can’t keep up with what is revealed on Facebook, tweets, email or blogging. Social media in all its glory.

Sort of Daily Diatribe # 1

One of my New Year Resolutions is to write something every day. Why? Well it’s a long thought that goes around and around. The upshot is that the whole point of having a blog was to diarize my /our life so that I have a memory recorded when “now” becomes “back in the day”. It is also, of course, a way of keeping in touch, and to rant a bit. Okay, maybe a lot.