Sorry...

So let's all give me a hearty boo for my level of commitment to this blog...

Apologies! I know, crappy, crappy, crappy. I've been super busy though, to make excuses! With showfit, work, cleaning my room, seeing shows, and so on and so forth I just haven't had the time to blog. But I promise I will make up for it now! Get ready for a super blog!

So back to the 30 day song challenge. I believe I was up to...

Day 3: A song that makes you happy.

Send Me on My Way - Rusted Root

Most of you will know this song from the movie, Matilda. I don't know whether it's because I love that movie so much, or because the song itself it great, it just always puts a smile on my face without fail. There's just something so positive and upbeat about it. It's not a song that you really dance to, or sing along well mostly because you can't understand a word the singer is singing. However, it's the kind of song you picture very happy movie montages (such as Matilda) happening to, where everything is going beautifully and happily and there's too much joy to possible be legal.

Just a beautiful song.

Day 4: A song that makes you sad.

The Letter - Billy Elliot

Even just singing this song in my head makes me teary. It is a song of a letter that Billy's mum wrote him for when he was 18. She knew she was going to die, so this is half a goodbye letter and half a way for her to remind him, when he is older, that she still loves him and watches over him. It is a duet with some beautiful harmonies, but it's not necessarily the music that makes me sad, just the lyrics.

And I will have missed you growing,
And I'll have missed you crying
And I'll have missed you laugh.
Missed your stomping and your shouting,
I'll have missed telling you off,
But please Billy,
Know that I was always there.
I was with you through everything.

Day 5: A song that reminds you of someone.

I think I have lots of answers for this one. Songs that I've performed with people always remind me of them, like when I think of 'How Does She Know' from Enchanted I think of Manford (Haven't used your codename in a while!!) because we were partners in that dance at YABC. Whenever I hear 'Tribute' by Jack Black I think of Monkey because that's our song that we like to rock out to randomly. Music is a huge part of my life, and the songs I sing and perform with people, or just the songs I listen to with them, really connect me to them.

Day 6: A song that reminds you of somewhere.

Hmmm... This one's a bit tougher. It's hard to think of these off the top of your head without your memory actually being triggered from the song. I cannot think of one!! If one comes into my head I'll post it later on but for now I've got nothing. Sorry!

Day 7: A song that reminds you of a certain event.

I wouldn't say this is an event per se, but I always think of it when I hear this song. 'Lovely Day' - it starts off, "When I wake up in the morning light, and the sunlight hurts my eyes."

It takes me straight back to primary school when I was becoming friends with my now best friends. Screws and I were on her trampoline after school making up dance routines that really involved no dancing, just bouncing, running and singing loudly. We did a little routine to this song and when the lyrics said "Lovely day, lovely day, lovely day, LOVEly day, lovely day, lovely day, ahhhh..." We ran around the trampoline in a circle throwing our arms up and down and collapsing when we sung 'ahhh'. We thought it was the most hilarious thing ever. Our parents, who were forced to watch, probably thought the opposite but oh well. We had a heck of a time!

Day 8: A song that you know all the words to.

Well, not to blow my own horn but... I kind of know a lot of lyrics... *tosses hair* It's no biggie.

I love learning lyrics and knowing songs so I tend to learn quite a lot. But most notably, I suppose my thorough knowledge of every single song on the Jesus Christ Superstar album is my crowning glory. I know the lyrics to ever single song. I can sing the whole album from start to finish basically. Can you tell I love it?

SO I think that's enough for now! I've sufficiently caught up! Time to make some homemade pizzas - YAY!

30 Day Song Challenge - Day #2

My Least Favourite Song

I am a big BIG disney fan. So when someone destroys a beautiful disney classic, boy do I get angry. And when I get angry... I rant on my blog - SO WATCH OUT!

Ashley Tisdale.
Kiss The Girl.
The Little Mermaid.

These three phrases should NEVER be used in a sentance, but unfortunantly and much to my horror, they are. Ashley Tisdale has outraged me with her pop-ified version of the Little Mermaid classic, Kiss the Girl. Far from the style of the Jamaican crab who should be singing this son, Ashley Tisdale sings the song like a pop princess which, in it's own genre is just fine, but when she is taking an old loved disney hummable tune sung by animated animals and sings, "Go on and kiss the guuuuuuurlah!" I just want to form an army of true disney fans to march to her house with pitchforks and flaming torches and say, "NO. Ashley Tisdale. NO."

Lets pray to god no one ever desecrates the magic that is disney ever again.

30 Day Song Challenge!

Yay for music! To show how much I can't live without music, I thought I'd do this 30 day song challenge and share some of the songs I love/hate. So here you go!

Day 1: Your favourite song.

Okay, please forgive my first answer being a no-answer, but I actually can't pin point a single song as being my favourite. My favourite changes pretty much every day, and I can't possibly list all the favourite songs I have ever had. Also, the thing about loving musicals is that I listen to the whole album, and generally go through a favourite musical stage more then a favourite song stage.

I can tell you the song that I have had stuck in my head so I at least name SOMETHING and that's 'Legally Blonde' from the musical Legally Blonde. It is such a beautiful song, but not only that, it is so heartfelt and sad, and when Emmette (is that how you spell his name?) joins in it gets even sadder. Do yourself a favour and listen to the Legally Blonde soundtrack if you haven't already. It sounds like it would be a terrible movie-musical conversion but it is actually fantastic, and you simply can't get enough of the music!

Blog Pushing

Hi all!!

I'm advertising a new blog today, written by my wonderful sister.

Not only does she write well, but her blog is far more practical then mine because she gives yummy recipes for you all to steal! So those of you that like cooking/baking, head on over to her blog and have a squiz:

http://ramblingsonaplate.com/

Enjoy!

Devil vs. Angel

We all know that famous image of an angel on one shoulder and a devil on the other, whispering things to you and contradicting each other until you're left relatively insane. While I am not yet insane, and I don't have visible angels/devils lurking around my body, I finally understand how this saying came about.

Doing my new musical theatre course, we are expected to do a certain amount of failing in order to learn and develop. We also need to get out of our comfort zone constantly and push ourselves to the limit. As much as I've wanted to do this, I have had trouble with my voice and have had to rest as much as possible, so I haven't been able to really put myself out there. I am now on the mend and have my first fortnightly 'Mock Audition' - this week is for Drowsy Chaperone. I'm singing a song I am fairly comfortable with, it is a genre I am fairly comfortable with. What I am not entirely comfortable with is the idea of varying my normal audition performance (stand, sing, emote and that's it). I am not used to putting on more of a show for an audition and this is what I am going to do. The past few day though, I have caught myself thinking, "Oh, forget about that. Just sing how you usually sing."

Normally, I think I would listen to myself. But I've been so constantly reminded to put myself out there and make risks and fail that I heard this thought kind of objectively and said, "No! Emily, take the risk. if you fall on your ass, so be it."

There you go. Devil and Angel. One telling me to be safe and stay in my comfort zone, the other telling me to go for it.

In a way it is natural to want to stay safe. It's part of human nature isn't it? Life preservation. Defense. But the strange thing about performing is that you have to break down those walls of basic animalism. Why do people get nervous or afraid if they have to perform? Because basic instinct is telling them not to. It's saying 'This is different and scary and maybe you should sit in the corner and wait until everyone forgets about you."

On our first day at Showfit we had to do an exercise that involved doing something totally against human instinctual nature - run across a room with our eyes closed. Our bodies were saying "STOP FOR CHRIST'S SAKE!!!" and a lot of people did stop. But the point was we meet that same brick wall when performing. The exercise told us that we have to take out our trusty sledgehammer and knock down that wall.

So while my fear, insecurities and basic human nature is telling me to stay safe, and not put myself in a situation where I could look stupid or fail, I am learning to ignore that... to an extent. I'm not actually going to go running down the street with my eyes closed exclaiming 'Look at my utter commitment and focus everybody!'

That's not artistically relevant, it's just sheer stupidity.

But I AM going to go for it, and take risks and let myself fall over because you can't learn to get back up unless you get on the ground first.

Book Worm

Hey all,

So I am quite a book worm. I read a lot. I am never without a book, reading every night and as a result I get through quite a lot of books. Some good, some not so good. Regardless, books are my favourite things in the world. To get lost inside a story and forget where you are and what you're thinking for a while, to just be completely absorbed by a character or witness a world you never have the opportunity to witness in real life - it's quite magical really.

Anyway, back to the good/bad books I read. I wanted to share with you some of those today. Three of the worst books I read last year, and three of the best books. Maybe it will inspire you to get out and read some of them for yourself!

BOOKS I WANT TO FORGET

Let's start with the bad one's shall we?

1. "Hush, Hush"

Now this book wasn't badly written, and the story wasn't TOO bad itself. What annoyed the hell out of me was it's very familiar theme of non-human creatures in intense love with a human, being dangerous and exciting and filled with life-threatening situations. Sound familiar? Yes. It was far too similar to Twilight for my liking.

2. "American Gods"

This book, again, wasn't bad in the sense of the writing or even the story concept. It was a cool concept, about Gods living in real life. It was also written by an author whom I quite enjoy, Neil Gaimon. However, it often made little or no sense. Nothing more frustrating then that in a novel! I was continually left thinking, "Waaaaa?" after reading chapters, particularly after a chapter in which a Goddess eats a man with her lady parts and then never appears in the story again. Very very strange.

3. "The English Harem"

This apparently has been made into a movie now. It's about a young English girl who ends up marrying a man who already has two other wives. A lot of stuff happens, yadda yadda yadda. I found the book odd at first, then got quite into the story and found myself really enjoying it. That's until the end. "And then Tracey woke up from the greatest dream of her life."

sbhadlbsdkblsdhj!

TERRIBLE ENDING! Now, this could have been ambiguous. It could have been saying she woke to reality, or alternatively she just woke up from a dream. Regardless, a book should never end with a sentence that has the word 'dream' in it. Not unless they want people to light the book on fire in pure literature rage.

BOOKS I WOULD READ AGAIN

Now onto something a little more positive. The books that were good!

1. "Good Omens"

Funnily enough, this is written by Terry Pratchett (one of my favourite authors) and Neil Gaimon, who wrote one of my least favourite books above as you have read. It was a fantastic read. All about the apocalypse and Angels and Demons, all wrapped up within a terrifically humorous writing style. I would recommend you all to read this one. Very very good!

2. "Jezebel"

I always hear people saying the name Jezebel or read it in books but I never knew who they were referring to. Now I do! The book Jezebel tells the story of the real life princess Jezebel and her incredibly powerful life. It was a fantastic read, mainly because it took a different view. Normally Jezebel is seen or referred to as being evil and corrupting. A force fuelled by sexuality and indulgence in a society and religion that abhors these things. The book took her point of view and it was altogether very interesting.

3. "The Princess Bride"

I had never read the book until last year. Of course I had seen the movie and loved it, but if you are like me and have never read the book, please go read it now! It is wonderful - better then the movie of course, as books usually are. It has great humour and a wonderful, old fashioned story-telling that really draws you in. The story is beautiful, and I believe it is loved by a lot of people simply through the movie. Go ahead and read it ASAP.

So there you go! My three worst loved and three most loved books of 2010. Where would we be without good books, hey?

I'm Gonna Get Up - I'm Gonna Get Out - I'm Gonna Get Up, Get Out and Live it!!

Hi all!

So I am writing this blog in a state of excitment and jitters from finishing my first two days at my new musical theatre course. Already I am loving loving loving it!! We haven't gotten way into the course yet, but we have done a lot of talking about the course in general. We've also done a dance class, an acting class and we performed solo in front of each other, so it is well under way!!

I am incredibly pumped about this year. The thought that every day I'm going to be doing what I love - completely surrounded by all things musical theatre - is one that gives me that fired up, ready for anything kind of feeling. I think it's just the prospect of what this year is going to give all of us in the course. The teachers have already said to us that we will grow and learn so much and I'm feeling that in the class environment already. There's this whole caterpillar - butterfly metamorphisis thing going; we are all in such a state of readiness to improve and to learn, we're just all so eager to be sponges and soak up everything they give us that there is no doubt in my mind that we will each improve in leaps and bounds.

I know it's going to be a hard slog. The early mornings, the travelling each day, the sore muscles and the confronting situations we will be putting ourselves in, but this is what I call living! I say I like a day in which I have accomplished something, and I'm going to accomplish something new everyday, whether it'll be overcoming nerves to do with a song I'm self-conscious about or mastering a dance step. Maybe even something so small as learning a new fact about this craft that I want to be a part of.

Basically, I am feeling incredibly lucky.

Thank god for Musical Theatre.