"You had me at hotel and leisure management."

Being Human's getting pretty dark again as we're a couple of weeks away from the conclusion, but it's still keeping its lighter moments.

"The Greater Good" by John Jackson, directed by Daniel O'Hara. Spoilers under the cut.

Twitterball 50: Itchin' to do some murderin'.

This week on my Twitter feed I go from ogling Damien Molony on telly to ogling him on stage, make a large amount of A Chrous Line-related in-jokes and my search for a new job kicks up a notch, and then doesn't.

At the Palladium, where my sister's reminiscing about being spat on by Jason Donovan.
7:18 PM - Feb 21, 2013

Lots of kids here for their half term treat. I'm sure "Tits & Ass" and the one about gonorrhea will go down a storm #achorusline
7:31 PM - Feb 21, 2013

My favourite character is Juan. Juan Singular Sensation AHAHAHAHA #achorusline
10:19 PM - Feb 21, 2013

Twitterball 49: The Tenties.

This week on my Twitter feed has been a bit of a quiet one.

Are we definitely calling this decade The Tens then? Cause I preferred Fags Mags & Bags' suggestion of The Tenties.
11:06 a.m. - Feb 13, 2013

I had a dream that one of you Twitterfolk was being well flirty. I won't say who it was but it was YOU. Sauce.
4:03 p.m. - Feb 13, 2013

Oh dear, just seen a bloke with the most unfortunate haircut / 'tache combo. He looked like a lesbian who'd been drinking chocolate milk.
5:54 p.m. - Feb 14, 2013

"All that thee-and-thou bollocks. It gets on my tits."

Already halfway through the final series of Being Human, that's what comes of cutting it down to six episodes. It also means that while Kate Bracken's slowly growing on me, by the time I actually properly like her it'll probably be time for it all to end.

"Pie and Prejudice" by Jamie Mathieson, directed by Phlip John. Spoilers under the cut.

Twitterball 48: Pfft. Amateurs.

This week on my Twitter feed the Pope resigns, and like the rest of Twitter I respond with the precisely the amount of measured contemplation you'd expect. Lots of new theatre news this week as well.

Cakeologist Spot: @JohnWhaiteBakes in ASDA. Nice to know you can build the Coliseum on a budget.
2:23 PM - 6 Feb 13

Rory Kinnear and Cush Jumbo are turning playwright at the Bush. http://www.officiallondontheatre.co.uk/news/latest-news/article/item170902/davies-directs-kinnears-debut-play/
3:36 PM - 6 Feb 13

Not that I'm not interested but that new submissions policy at the Bush really found some fresh people with no industry contacts, didn't it?
3:38 PM - 6 Feb 13

"Dead Victorian kids are so annoying."

So now we've had it confirmed that Series 5 of Being Human is going to be the last one as suspected. With Yer Actual Devil as this year's Big Bad, I'm not sure there was any point pretending they were going to come back next year with something bigger and scarier. Although ever since the pilot, there's been one phrase in the Being Human universe that's been scarier than any other...

"Sticks and Rope" by Daragh Carville, directed by Philip John. Spoilers under the cut.

7th Bloggieversary

Although it was on a different blogging platform I still count this as being the same So anyway, blog I first posted on on the 11th of February 2006, which makes this my 7th Bloggieversary. It's on Blogger now and split into two separate blogs but I like to think it still has the same thing to offer that it did 7 years ago: Absolutely nothing of any value to anyone whatsoever. And I think consistency is something to be celebrated.

Twitterball 47: You're gonna get a jig

This week on my Twitter feed I have my first trip of the year to Stratford-upon-Avon, and I keep booking ahead for more theatre - try to act surprised.

Today my iPod really likes Queen. The band, not the monarch. Though it did also play HM Elizabeth II's calypso cover of "My Neck, My Back."
6:26 PM - 30 Jan 13

Oh Thorburn. With your breeches. #intervaltweets
8:50 PM - 31 Jan 13

A spam email, AND the phrase "the most unique" in the subject line. Basically it's as bad as genocide.
2:43 PM - 1 Feb 13

"This is a two-sets-of-marigolds problem."

If it's February it must be time for new Being Human, although only for the next six weeks this time. Did the show have its budget cut, and decide to cut back to six episodes again instead of stinting on quality for eight? I've always done Being Human blog posts in bullet points, don't ask me why.

"The Trinity" by Toby Whithouse, directed by Philip John. Spoilers under the cut.

Book review: The Stepford Wives

A while back there was a kindle offer for Ira Levin's first four, and most famous, books, and I've been occasionally making my way through them. Next up for me was The Stepford Wives, in which Joanna Eberhart and her husband arrive in the suburban town of Stepford and has trouble fitting in with the housework-obsessed, perfectly-proportioned women there. (She must have been lonely - the first appearance of her self-consciously "wacky" neighbour Bobbie would have had me heading for the hills, but Joanna embraces her eagerly just for having a personality.) But soon Bobbie also gets Stepfordised and Joanna starts to believe there's a conspiracy by the men of the town.

Of all the Levin books I've read this is perhaps most compromised by knowing what's going on beforehand, the title having even entered the language to describe a woman who seems a bit too "perfect." (And if you somehow went in not knowing, Chuck Palahniuk's introduction gives the twist away in the opening sentence, so even if like me you skip the introduction to books you haven't read yet, it's still hard not to get spoiled.) But I still enjoyed the satirical element of Levin's book, which imagines an extreme reaction to women's lib by threatened men, and it's fun putting the clues together about how they're doing what they're doing.