Twitaceous Era 42: Really bloody big and sometimes on fire

This week on my Twitter feed, Christmas happened, as it is sometimes wont to do.

Christmas Congratulation, Twitter! https://pbs.twimg.com/media/B5sM6eQCAAIjt-B.jpg
FAVORITE 1
9:21 AM - 25 Dec 2014

Never felt more middle-aged than while bellowing DO SOMETHING WITH A TUNE! at Christmas Top of the Pops.
2:40 PM - 25 Dec 2014

That was so much better than last year's! Of course, so's rectal surgery #doctorwho
7:17 PM - 25 Dec 2014

Book review: Broken Homes

The fourth of Ben Aaronovitch's PC Peter Grant novels, Broken Homes, brings the policemen from the supernatural branch of the Met, The Folly, to South London. I felt like this book was following me around actually, as most of it is set in the Elephant and Castle, which isn't far from me, and which I was often going through on the bus while I was reading. But then when I went to the Barbican a couple of times last week, the action briefly moved there as well.

This time the action centres on a tower block at the Elephant and Castle, an unusually-shaped building which to be honest I thought it took the characters a bit too long to figure out must have been built to harness some occult power. It's another fun book although it feels very much like a transitional one rather than ever really kicking off its narrative. Without spoilering, certain events at the end confirm the impression that the book is largely setup for things that will happen in later installments of the series.

Googling for a picture of the cover to illustrate my review with, quite a few photos of Samuel Anderson crop up. I guess that campaign to get him cast as Peter Grant if the books are ever turned into a TV series must have a lot of supporters. He wouldn't be a bad choice, certainly, and his recent stint on Doctor Who should make for a high enough profile to launch a show around (especially if you added a well-loved older actor as Nightingale - any thoughts?)

Twitaceous Era 41: Cicely Bumtrinket

This week on my Twitter feed, Paloma Faith is still very, very old.

The Barbican towel dispensers are so demanding. "Now dry your hands. NO NOT LIKE THAT YOU IDIOT, LIKE THIS."
FAVORITES 2
7:10 PM - 17 Dec 2014

@Elsiebrewster I need Jewel Staite and Morena Baccarin to complete the set of "Firefly good guys playing bad guys in other Whedon projects."
5:46 PM - 18 Dec 2014

Sleb Spot: Suchet (clothed) at the Barbican.
6:59 PM - 18 Dec 2014

Twitaceous Era 40: I embrace change!

This week on my Twitter feed: The answer to a question Charles Dickens never thought to ask.

These carollers are singing entirely the wrong lyrics to "Get Dressed You Merry Gentlemen."
6:59 PM - 10 Dec 2014

I think @emsler must have taken up lighting design - walked into the Menier to see Parker's forearms the main focus.
FAVORITE 1
7:58 PM - 10 Dec 2014

Aaron Tveit spat on me, so we're technically married now #straightthroughnointervaltweets
FAVORITES 2
10:26 PM - 10 Dec 2014

Book review: A Clash of Kings

I have to say, these new paperback covers for George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series, with the generic landscape photos, are a bit dull; but the one for the second book, A Clash of Kings, is also a bit of a mismatched one, as the desert it shows is obviously meant to link to Daenerys' story, but she doesn't actually appear in this part of the story much, with only four or five chapters from her POV.

What's actually going on in this novel is a fight for the throne that she's not quite ready to join yet, as Robb Stark and both Stannis and Renly Baratheon all stake their claim to the throne that Joffrey, not actually the dead king Robert's son, is falsely sitting on.

Again I enjoyed reading the story I'd seen on TV, as well as seeing those areas where the two versions started to diverge, the TV version understandably having simplified certain elements. The next installment is one of those so long it got split into two volumes, so I'm taking a break now to read other things, but I'll probably be heading back to Westeros in the new year.

Twitaceous Era 39: Rainbow mirrorball bauble

This week on my Twitter feed: Dick.

"Unexpected item in the bagging area." That's the receipt, you div.
3:24 PM - 3 Dec 2014

Not that anyone who follows me would be remotely interested *whistles* Sleb Spot: James Norton at Southwark Playhouse.
FAVORITE 1
6:23 PM - 3 Dec 2014

Kitson Old Vic tickets acquired with minimum fuss *thumbsup*
FAVORITE 1
12:21 PM - 4 Dec 2014

A devastating existential nightmare. You know, for kids!

Oh noes, Clara's going to destroy all the existing TARDIS keys with lava, such peril! How will the Doctor ever get back into his TARDIS now, other than by snapping his fingers, which he's been able to do for the last three regenerations?

"Dark Water"/"Death in Heaven" by Steven Moffat, directed by Rachel Talalay. Spoilers after the cut.

Twitaceous Era 38: Shake It Off

This week on my Twitter feed: Treacle.

Is Family Guy and American Dad constantly hiring real English actors to do terrible English accents some kind of in-joke I'm missing?
5:35 PM - 26 Nov 2014

Off to look at topless men smeared with treacle because Culture.
7:20 PM - 26 Nov 2014



Some people avoid the front row if it needs a splash guard. These people are theatreing wrong #straightthroughnointervaltweets
9:22 PM - 26 Nov 2014

Twitaceous Era 37: A friendly handshake and a dry hump

This week on my Twitter feed I have Opinions about next year's Globe summer season, because of course I do.

I love how A Number attracts so many real father/son actors despite the relationship being so twisted. Yet more proof actors are weirdos.
5:57 PM - 19 Nov 2014

So far: Leg injury and fairytales #intervaltweets
8:54 PM - 19 Nov 2014

The cat's got a furball stuck in his throat. Mum & stepdad are now calling him "poor little sick soldier" because my family is certifiable.
3:57 PM - 20 Nov 2014

Twitaceous Era 36: Sad smiles and head-shaking

This week on my Twitter feed I end up in Birmingham, which you'd think would be a tricky thing to do if you didn't intend to.

Radiant Vermin. Ridley's totally using an automated title generator now, isn't he?
10:57 AM - 12 Nov 2014

Today's news in summary: Apparently someone's landed a probe on Kim Kardashian's arse.
6:08 PM - 12 Nov 2014

Sleb Spotted Luke Thompson & Nick Hendrix in quick succession and now I'm no use to anyone. At Hampstead, looks like Wildefire press night.
7:00 PM - 12 Nov 2014

Twitaceous Era 35: #toast

This week there's just too many cooks on my Twitter feed.

BARROWMAN's on the telly. I see he's gone full Scottish again.
2:00 PM - 6 Nov 2014

"It takes two to tango." "Don't try to confuse me with choreography." #Dagenham
10:32 PM - 6 Nov 2014

There's going to be a "live Hunger Games experience" in a purpose-built arena.Which sounds alarmingly like it'll be the ACTUAL Hunger Games.
5:25 PM - 7 Nov 2014

Twitaceous Era 34: Some undead pierrots

This week on my Twitter feed, buses start talking to me in the voices of Joanna Lumley and BRIAN BLESSED, but apparently this isn't a sign of psychosis.

I'm writing a disco musical about the Great British Bake-Off. It's called Here Lies Loaf.
10:15 AM - 29 Oct 2014

Sleb Spot: Oliver Chris definitely qualifies as my new stalker. (Phone wanted to correct to Oliver Cromwell. Which would be disconcerting.)
7:00 PM - 29 Oct 2014

Opera Spot (Spopera?) Bryn Terfel on a bike. (For when "Christ on a bike" is too enthusiastic for the circumstances.)
7:26 PM - 29 Oct 2014

Book review: A Game of Thrones

Having, slightly late to the party, got completely wrapped up in the TV version of Game of Thrones, I figured I'd read George R.R. Martin's original A Song of Ice and Fire books to get caught up and maybe even get ahead of the TV series. I'd wanted to read them for a while but the length put me off, as I only really get time to read on buses and trains and it takes me ages to get through even a shorter book, but as it turns out I finished A Game of Thrones in just under a month.

Having some familiarity with the universe and the story obviously helped (it also meant I chuckled every time Jon Snow is described as being close to tears, because I thought "yes, that's the facial expression he can do.") But Martin's prose is also very easy to get on with, detailed without being boring. For anyone who's avoided it so far, it's a fantasy novel but the magical elements are kept very much in the background, the main sweep of the story starting with a murder mystery of sorts, the "Hand of the King" of Westeros having met with a suspicious end. The new Hand, Ned Stark, investigates and discovers that his predecessor might have come across a secret that puts the whole line of succession in question, meaning by the end of the book there's numerous claims on the throne, but only after a lot more backstabbing (metaphorical and literal) and intrigue have gone on.

I don't think I'll read the rest of the series so far in one go (five books published so far, seven if you count the fact that two of them have been split into two volumes each) because I like to mix my reading up a bit, but I am going straight on to A Clash of Kings because I'm happily back in the Ice and Fire universe for now. I'd heard this first book was the one the TV series stuck to most closely, and it is indeed pretty much identical to the first season; I'm interested to see how the two versions diverge a bit more from now on.

Twitaceous Era 33: Other people's bodies must work differently

This week on my Twitter feed: Some stuff.

@stevenperkins I usually don't know what I'm having for dinner while I'm eating it. We can't all be good cooks.
RETWEET 1
11:14 AM - 22 Oct 2014

The many face of Nicole Shitsinger: http://www.whatsonstage.com/london-theatre/news/nicole-scherzinger-cats-photos_36232.html #doesnthavetherange
11:04 AM - 24 Oct 2014

I see there's a new series of "Russell Howard plays last year's viral videos then shouts them back at you."
12:31 PM - 24 Oct 2014

Tiger, tiger, not so bright

I'm not OK with the amount of child actors in Doctor Who nowadays.

"In the Forest of the Night" by Frank Cottrell-Boyce, directed by Sheree Folkson. Spoilers after the cut.

π Anxiety

That's what these kids today get excited about: Geometry.

"Flatline" by Jamie Mathieson, directed by Douglas Mackinnon. Spoilers after the cut.

Twitaceous Era 32: He looks like a jockey

This week on my Twitter feed I correct the world's incorrect opinions about theatre.

Well Bad Education certainly knows how to do guest stars #allam
5:31 PM - 15 Oct 2014

@Weez there's certainly something of an in-joke for anyone familiar with his dulcet tones.
5:37 PM - 15 Oct 2014

Tsk, the Apprenti I fancy always go early. Poor miniature Scottish Tovey-alike. #Apprentice
2:31 PM - 16 Oct 2014

Are you my mummy?

A trip on a train leads the Doctor and Clara into a situation stickier than George Sampson's stomach. HASHTAG TOPICAL COMEDY!

"Mummy on the Orient Express" by Jamie Mathieson, directed by Paul Wilmshurst. Spoilers after the cut.

Twitaceous Era 31: "Too Apocalyptic"

This week on my Twitter feed I take a break from sitting in a dark room watching a play, to sit in a dark room watching a film.

I'm at the ballet tonight BECAUSE CULTURE. Lithe, partially-clad culture.
6:48 PM - 8 Oct 2014

So... did they just decapitate a littlun, or was a pig meant have just turned up because of reasons? #intervaltweets
8:41 PM - 8 Oct 2014

Finally off to see Pride. You've probably all built it up too much so if I hate it I'll blame you.
3:19 PM - 9 Oct 2014

The Moon's (not) a balloon

Having a look at what Peter Harness has written before, I see he's one of the writers on the upcoming Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell adaptation. And since his Doctor Who episode was a decent debut, that bodes well enough.

"Kill the Moon" by Peter Harness, directed by Paul Wilmshurst. Spoilers after the cut.