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DVD Review: Nina Conti – Dolly Mixtures Live

By Amazon, Happiness & Joy, Reviews, TV, Online Streaming & FilmsNo Comments
Reading Time: 2 minutes
nina-conti-dvd-and-treats

Nina Conti DVD and Treats

 Last week was a tough week. I needed cheering up, so head to my local supermarket and bought Nina Conti’s live show – Dolly Mixtures, along with some popcorn and a multipack of Curly Wurly’s.

Superb Ventriloquist Nina Conti presents her live show Dolly Mixtures on DVD, filmed in Leeds. The hilarious comedy show is a laugh-a-second and cheered me up no end. It’s part scripted and part improv, with Nina making herself the butt of many of her own jokes.

Nina starts the show with her long-standing puppet Monkey. Monkey presents a lateral thinking puzzle:
A crowd is covered in strange lumps of foam, on the floor empty suitcases, an old mans clothes and a paint brush. What happened?

nina-conti-dolly-mixtures-live-dvd-cover

Click to Buy on Amazon

 Then Nina introduces her six new puppets:

  • Nina’s Daughter and Inner Child who sings ‘My Face Hurts When I Play Guitar.’
  • Killer the Camp Dog who tells his story of how he raided Claire’s Accessories during the riots.
  • Stefan the Builder who is a step-in puppet that requires some audience participation.
  • Granny the Clairvoyant who shows off her clairvoyance.
  • The Human Puppets with Talking Mouths, which leads to more audience participation.
  • Granddad John the Painter who leads to a bizarre but extremely funny show’s ending.

Throughout the show, there’s plenty of good natured audience participation with the themes being: good fun & humour.

Nina is fantastically funny and by the end of the show my sides hurt because I’d laughed so much. The show ends by showing the lateral thinking puzzle, that even God couldn’t solve! LOL.

I’ve watched Nina Conti’s live show – Dolly Mixtures several times since I bought it and never failed to lose myself in laughter. If I star rated DVDs, it would be five out of five star.

Here’s a clip from Nina Conti’s live show – Dolly Mixtures:

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Review soon,

Antony



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Thursday 11 December 2014

Good Omens will be on BBC Radio 4 from 22nd December!

By Amazon, Books & Authors, Music & RadioNo Comments
Reading Time: 2 minutes
good-omens-pratchett-gaiman-book-cover We’re in for a great treat this festive period; as Good Omens the book by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman comes to Radio 4.

I read about it on Radio Times website. It reads:

The radio adaptation of Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman’s comic apocalypse novel Good Omens will air at 11pm from the 22nd to the 27th of December, with the last episode a bumper hour-long special.

…Once you’ve marked that date on your advent calendar, feast your eyes on a string of new cast images released by the BBC today and including Merlin’s Colin Morgan, Fresh Meat star Charlotte Ritchie, Mark Heap (Green Wing), Peter Serafinowicz (Guardians of the Galaxy), Paterson Joseph (Peep Show), Sherlock’s Louise Brealey and many more…

Good Omens follows the attempts of an angel and a demon (Heap and Serafinowicz) to save the world from the antichrist, but all is not as it seems thanks to a bureaucratic mix-up. Soon, the fate of humanity is left to a gang of young children, a trainee witchfinder (Morgan) and a collection of garbled flashcards.

It was written by Gaiman and Pratchett in 1990, and became a bestseller that remains popular to this day. Now, the two writers have joined up with the team behind the 2013 smash-hit radio adaptation of Gaiman’s book and TV series Neverwhere which starred Benedict Cumberbatch, James McAvoy, Christopher Lee and Natalie Dormer.

Gaiman… has assisted returning Neverwhere director and adaptor Dirk Maggs with the scripts, and both he and Pratchett will make cameo appearances alongside the main cast.

RadioTimes.com caught up with the drama’s star Colin Morgan who explained, despite appearances, you won’t find a better listen for the festive season…

“It’s about the antichrist, at Christmas – nothing more festive that that!” said the Merlin and The Fall actor.

“But it’s got heart and the soul. It’s the escapism, the fantasy element of it, the charm and magic that surrounds Christmas, I think. And it’s pure escapism.

He added: “I think everybody can get something from it. I think fans of Terry and Neil will be extremely pleased.”

Good Omens will begin on Radio 4 on Monday 22nd of December at 11.00pm.

(From: Radio Times, Last accessed: 28th November 2014.)

You can read my book review here: Book Review: Good Omens by Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman.

Can’t wait to hear this fantastic and funny story aloud.

Blog soon,

Antony

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Friday 5 December 2014

My Writing Process for The Good Teen

By CreativityNo Comments
Reading Time: 2 minutes
the-good-teen-plot-line

The Good Teen Plot Line

 I recently self-published The Good Teen, a modern-day telling of The Good Samaritan parable, with a hint of magic. I want to tell you a bit about my writing process for this short story.

The idea came from my childhood. Being brought up as a Christian we were told the The Good Samaritan parable. It’s a story that has stayed with me and one that I wanted to retell with my own twist. So I wrote/drew out the plot on flipchart (Left: My flipchart for The Good Teen, click on image for full size).

I like to develop my ideas, plots, sub-plots, settings, characters, pacing and description on flipchart as it’s faster than typing and allows me more creative freedom. The creative freedom to draw pictures, arrows and anything else I want to.

I originally decided to publish The Good Teen as a christmas story for my readers. Hoping to start an annual tradition. But then I saw a call for submission on the BBC Writers Room website for the BBC Radio4 Opening Lines programme and decided to write, edit and submit The Good Teen.

I had already written a To Do List for The Good Teen (below) and changed the timescales to meet the submission deadline.

the-good-teen-to-do-list

The Good Teen To Do List

The editing process, as always, was maddening. I had to cut to the word count limit, which meant some scenes were either cut, not written or combined.

Unfortunately, The Good Teen was not long listed by the BBC. So I decided to self-publish it online. You can download The Good Teen on it’s page. It’s a free download, with a Twitter Tweet or Facebook Like in exchange for the download link.

Write soon,

Antony



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Sunday 8 June 2014

My Yearly Review

By Friends & Family, Gigs & Shows, Happiness & Joy, Life, Thinking, TV, Online Streaming & FilmsNo Comments
Reading Time: 3 minutes

Welcome to my yearly review. 2013 has been a great year; both for me and my creative writing. There’s so much to tell you about my writing that I’ve given My Awesome Year in Words it’s own post on my Writer Website. Here I shall focus on my personal life.

Alex Memorial 1 - Chinese Lanterns In January I did Something Uncomfortable, which was attending Alex’s Chinese lantern memorial. It was something I had always avoided, and became part of my New Experiences for 2013.

In February I went to a friend’s 50th birthday party and one of my nephew’s 18th birthday party. I undertook my February Photo Challenge.

free-speech-06.03.13-E March came along and I was on TV – Live To The Nation! Although an exciting, uncomfortable and anxiety ridden experience, it was also one of great learning. Educating me in the world of the media. And unbeknown to me at the time, it wasn’t going to be my last excursion into the media world this year. Oh and I got an iPhone 5.
My Birthday Presents - Happy Birthday Cake

My Birthday Presents – Happy Birthday Cake

 I did so much in May. I had a great Bank Holiday Weekend. I celebrated my twenty seventh birthday by seeing friends and family; they got me some fab Birthday Presents. I got an extra special birthday present off the wonderful Writer Mel Bossa. I had a Cumbria Adventure. I enjoyed this Get Lucky Cover, as well as the original song by Daft Punk.
Rocky Horror Show 2013 In June, Steve came to live with me. We went watching The Rocky Horror Show. It’s a night out that I’ll remember for a very long time. I remembered Something I Forgot Along The Way.
Outside Rivington Castle - Covered In Greenery

Outside Rivington Castle – Covered In Greenery

 July was filled with good times. I bought A Flashy New Car – Olly, The Citroen DS3. I attended Pagan Con for the first time and discovered Posh Coffee: The Flavour Collection from Douwe Egberts. I had some time off work and had an adventure in Rivington (see Rivington Adventure: Lever Castle and Rivington Adventure: Ruins & The Picni). I even witnessed A Sensational Sunset.
up4ameet3 In August my iMac Hard drive failed and I took it to the Apple Store for repair. Steve and I went watching Up4aMeet? – An Evening of Naked, Gay, Laugh-Out-Loud Comedy. I started reading the Gone Series.
More Minions!

More Minions!

 In September I watched Despicable Me 2 and Percy Jackson – Sea of Monsters at the cinemas. I started Reading for Pleasure.
Me Wicked Outside Manchester In October Steve and I went watching Wicked at Manchester Palace Theatre. I had a bug, got offered a job which I initially accepted and then later declined. My contract at work got made permanent. I got interviewed on BBC Radio 5 Live.

I started regular Reiki treatments at Halsa Healing. Jayne and I went to Castlerigg Stone Circle for Samhain.
Stephen Lynch LIVE My cousin and I saw Stephen Lynch in Manchester in November. I donated to two Homelessness charities.
My Christmas Presents

Presents People Bought Me

 In December I bought an iPad, went to Manchester Christmas Market and spent Christmas with family and friends.

Blog soon,

Antony

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Saturday 28 December 2013
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