Our 2010 house
Getting into the spirit of things!
view from the stoep
Joke that’s not funny
Carl Niehaus. What a joke. But nobody is laughing.
my five
Here are my five random blog links on blog day. Go wild.
2. Allergy blog
3. Rantings and ravings of a slightly middle aged lesbian
My support for …
The most amazing Madame Zingara
We were lucky enough to be taken to the press night of the opening of Madame Zingara’s Tent of Dreams new show in the grounds of Montecasino up here in Jozi last night.
We did the experience in Cape Town, in its first incarnation, but the concept, show, new theme, food, sound and even fancy port-a-loos have so doubled in excellence we had a better time than before.
Richard is Madame Zingara and he is busy realising his dream. He has pushed for this amazing celebration to get bigger, better, slicker and it has paid off. The whole magnificent Spiegeltent, cast, crew, cooks and all other mad-crazies are flying off to London at the end of the year to do the whole thing there. it’s phenomenal.
The whole idea is brilliant. The five hours spent eating, socialising, watching brilliant spectacle, being served by superb staff, spending money on ridiculous hats at the shop and even dancing to eighties’ hits late into the night is the best fun ever.
Richard has done some really clever basic business and he has thought of everything. Firstly, he has the most loyal team working with and for him (apparently most of them have travelled since the beginning one in Cape Town). Then there is an attention to detail. The decor, entrance, costumes of the staff and performers, toilets, bar, shop, are all excellent, no skimping. The food is superb; and miraculous. I can’t believe that all that food is made and delivered impeccably to 500 people virtually at once. The wait-staff are firm and confident; the performers all help out at the tables. This guy knows what he is doing and it’s absolutely brilliant. The lights are pretty and the sound is excellent; crystal clear and loud.
The acts were superb. I also preferred the new theme which is more adult bondage. The last theme was more fantasy and I like the new shift. Everyone looks magnificent. Nicky Smuts has designed the most spectacular costumes and every tassel, frill, leather strap and sequin is perfect.
Well done all at the magnificent Madame Zingara and thanks for a brilliant time.
PS. We are up in Jozi for a fandamily thing, which we are off to right now.
Stuff
The great thing about having a blog set up by Big Friendly is that he can tell me all the important stats that I would never be able to find myself, and what they all mean. He can tell me how readers find my blog and what they were looking for. He can tell me about spikes and troughs. He can find out info about the people who leave comments and he can prevent spam comments and block spiders and stuff. You know what I mean?
And I think, after hearing all that info, I’m going to be writing a few new pages of stuff. People want to know about Industrial Theatre. People want to know about Improv. So I think I’m just going to tell them. Thanks for this Big Friendly.
waddayathink?
I’ve been having problems with my blog comments. People have had access problems to the submit button if they haven’t been using firefox. I know this sounds like I know what I’m talking about but its all Big Friendly who knows this stuff. So, he made me a new look.
Reading
I’ve been doing a lot of reading and research lately. It seems that the work I’m doing for the next couple of months needs tons of reading. And you know how it is; one thing leads to the next. So I’m having an ‘internet is amazing’ month. It really is. Everything is out there, from speaking Shakespeare to conversations in the future to great cold tomato soup recipes. And of course, I have become a bit of a facebook addict. I am totally caught up in the application that lets us write 3 word at a time stories. I know that none of this is new. No revelation here; just a moment of gratitude and excitement that learning can be this beautiful and easy. Viva ToingToing too.
Primary Coloured
We went to Brent Meersman’s book launch yesterday evening. It was a who’s who of Cape Town somebodies and I was touched and flattered to be included on the list. He spoke so well about the book, Primary Coloured, a fictional thriller in and around SA politics, and really piqued my interest. I bought a copy and had it signed. Yay. I haven’t started reading it yet; I am still busy with the strange and fascinating A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers.
It was good to be out and about though and I chatted to all and sundry about who’s doing what in the city.
Vaun’s gathering
On Friday evening Big Friendly and I went to an old connection of mine’s exhibition at the Victoria Junction Protea Hotel in Green Point. It was her first ever exhibition. She has made many paintings; some of them quite extra-ordinary. What was amazing was that the exhibition was called ‘The Gathering’ and it was a gathering of people too. There were old friends and connections there that I hadn’t seen in absolute ages. One of them even gave me an invite to his 50th birthday party! So time moves on. We are all getting old. This ragged bunch of hectic jollers was now sedately worrying about baby sitters. Or worse, their kids were there – grown up and huge, and smiling patiently down at this has-been nostalgic bunch. A few glasses of wine helped to dull that pain and get us shouting.
Afterwards, Big Friendly and I wandered down the road to have dinner at my new favourite restaurant in CT, Il Leone. Yum. Honestly, the food is delicious, the vibe cool and trendy without being intimidating or up its arse and the prices are amazingly reasonable. It’s good to find a place that we know we’ll go back to again and again.
For the record, last night we did completely nothing. Diddly squat. Zilch.
-
Randomness
