2014 was an unusual year... there were more highlights than lowlights, but the lowlights were really low.
As has become my tradition on NYE, I thought I'd reflect on both the good and the bad of 2014 and my plans for 2015,
The Good:
Wicked. 2014 will forever be the year of Wicked. I saw it a lot (12 times to be exact) and it was really nice not to have to travel internationally to see it for a change. It's still magical, after all this time. And Jemma Rix remains the best.
Musicals in general. This year I saw Beauty and the Beast, Wicked, The Lion King, Into the Woods, Les Mis and Picture Perfect, and David Harris' cabaret show Time is a Traveller, plus his show with Lucy Durack at Taronga Zoo, Wickedly Broadway. I think this is the most shows I've seen in a year. Despite the fact I spent a lot of this year broke, it was totally worth it.
I got my P's! Which means I can legally drive on my own, which has made life much easier.
I got a car. Which really helps out with number 3 on this list.
I worked with some great people and got to teach some great kids this year. Several of whom have now seen Wicked, thanks to me and love it :D And I get another year in the same school which is such a relief!
Canberra. I am loving living somewhere with shops and public transport, and Canberra has some cool stuff. Really looking forward to the multicultural festival in February. I found it last year by accident, and it was awesome.
Comic Con. Kelly and I did Comic Con in Adelaide and Melbourne, and I got to meet Ted and The Todd from Scrubs, Piper and Leo from Charmed and Jennifer Morrison from House and Once Upon a Time.
Tim Campbell. Four years after seeing him as Fiyero in Wicked, many tweets and after being a fan of his for even longer than that, I finally got to meet him. And he was just as lovely as I'd always hoped.
Family stuff- one cousin got married and another had a baby!
I got to meet other awesome musical theatre people.
I found The West Wing. I love it. The End.
The Bad:
Being diagnosed with anxiety and depression. That's been the biggest struggle of the year, and despite all the good things on the list, this really has established the year for me. Ending up in hospital at the beginning was especially terrifying.
One sister had surgery, my dad ended up in hospital with a fractured back, and my other sister found out she has something wrong with her eyes and we were worried for a while she might end up blind.
Tarsal Tunnel- I am the only person who could screw up my ankles by walking too much. Although it was a great motivator to get my P's and drive.
There were some... not as great kids I taught this year. It was a challenge.
Robin Williams dying. I mean, it's not like I knew him personally, but the man defined my childhood and it was definitely the biggest shock of the year.
Goals/Plans for 2015:
Work on my mental health.
Try my best at work this year and ask for help to learn the new system (I'm going to be working in the Distance Education part of our school this year).
Write. Read. Write. Read.
See more shows. So far, for 2015, I have plans to see Wicked, we're making plans for Matilda and I'm seeing Taylor Swift in November 2015.
As much as I don't like writing this wedding, I did have fun picking Glinda's wedding dress. You can go a lot more princess/flowing with Glinda than Elphaba, because the only way Elphaba would wear this dress was if you held a gun to her head- and maybe not even then.
This is the Gilmore Girls scene that inspired this whole fic. So really, it's all their fault I wrote this story... no? Still my fault?
It's from Season 3, Episode 2 "Haunted Leg".
If you're a Gilmore Girls virgin, first of all- shame on you. Second of all, context- Christopher is Lorelai's high school boyfriend and Rory's father, but he was never really around after Rory was born.
In season 2, Christopher finally gets himself together when he gets with this woman Sherry. At the end of the season, they break up and he and Lorelai get together. And then Sherry tells Christopher that she's pregnant, and he goes back to her, determined to be the good father that he never was to Rory.
Lorelai breaks off all contact with Chris after that, and eventually, he shows up at her parent's house where Lorelai and Rory have dinner every Friday night.
A little (ok, not so little. 15 minutes. I ramble. I'm sorry- imagine how my students must feel!) video to commemorate my 20th Wicked show this weekend.
Yesterday, the world finally got to hear Taylor Swift’s new album, 1989, her first dedicated pop album.
I have to be honest and say I was a little apprehensive. So often in the 21st century “pop” has essentially translated to “dance” music; and I can’t say I’m a huge fan of that.
Whenever I try and describe what kind of music I like, I always seem to think of this scene from Music and Lyrics:
Alex Fletcher: It doesn’t have to be perfect. Just spit it out. They’re just lyrics.Sophie Fisher: “Just lyrics”?Alex Fletcher: Lyrics are important. They’re just not as important as melody.Sophie Fisher: I really don’t think you get it.Alex Fletcher: Oh. You look angry. Click your pen.Sophie Fisher: A melody is like seeing someone for the first time. The physical attraction. Sex.Alex Fletcher: I so get that.Sophie Fisher: But then, as you get to know the person, that’s the lyrics. Their story. Who they are underneath. It’s the combination of the two that makes it magical.
I am not a musician. Of any kind. I have absolutely zero musical talent. I am the daughter of a musician, but those genes apparently skipped me and went to all three of my siblings. But hey, I can read really fast, so I have that going for me at least, right?
However, despite my lack of music talent or knowledge, I support this quote and this theory completely. Any song that makes my favourites list, it’s because the lyrics speak to me.
And I feel that so many “pop” songs often lose something from the lyrics when the tune is all bass, auto tune, etc. Give me a piano, a guitar and some strings with vocals any day.
So, when Taylor announced her new album was going to be pop, I was slightly wary.
I adored Shake it Off, so that made me hopeful. I thought Out of the Woods and Welcome to New York were catchy, but they didn’t grab me. My favourite part of Out of the Woods was the bridge, and I’m not a huge fan of songs where 2 lines repeated make a chorus.
I got the album yesterday afternoon (the deluxe edition) and after a few listens since then, I’ve decided upon my Top 5 Tracks:
I Wish You Would
Shake it Off
Wonderland
How You Get the Girl
Style
In all the reviews I’ve read thus far, there’s been a lot talk about Blank Space and Bad Blood. I really did like Blank Space, but I don’t think it’s one of my faves.
But I honestly did not like Bad Blood. Just wasn’t my style. That’s all.
When I get a new album, I always go through and rate each song on my iTunes.
5 Stars= amazing.
4 Stars= love it
3 Stars= it’s good.
2 Stars= it’s ok, but probably won’t go on my iPod
1 Star= not my kinda thing/don’t like it.
Here’s how 1989 rounded out
Overall, I really enjoyed 1989,although I think Red may still be my favourite Taylor Swift album.
I've just finished reading Jodi Picoult's new book Leaving Time. There's no spoilers below, just FYI.
Alice Metcalf was an accomplished scientist, studying grief among elephants. She was a wife to Thomas, and a mother to Jenna. When Jenna was three, she disappeared from hospital after a keeper at the elephant sanctuary she and Thomas ran was killed under suspicious circumstances.
Ten years later, Thomas is in a psychiatric hospital, having suffered a complete mental breakdown after the events of that night. Jenna, now 13 and raised by her maternal grandmother, decides to go looking for answers about what happened to her mother. Did Alice really leave her behind? Did she not have a choice? Or is she dead?
Jenna invokes the help of two people for her search- Virgil Stanhope, one of the original detectives on her mother's case a decade prior; and Serenity Jones, a psychic.
From the beginning, I was intrigued by the story, mostly because of the elephant aspect. Elephants are my mother's favourite animal (well, elephants, wombats and turtles), so I've always been interested in them. And one of my favourite things about Jodi's books, is that I always learn something. The amount of research she puts in is incredible.
It admittedly took me a few chapters to place Serenity, she was a character in a short story Jodi released earlier this year through Kindle, When there's smoke, which I thoroughly enjoyed; so I was very pleased to see Serenity again in this instance. I love when characters from past books appear, and you get a little insight to where they are now. It's like catching up with an old friend.
You don't have to have read When there's smoke before reading Leaving Time, Serenity's background is recapped adequately, but I recommend reading it first anyway. It's a short story people, it won't take long.
The elephants aside, it took me a while to warm to Alice's story- which is stories of her studies on elephants in Africa leading up to the events of her disappearance and what actually happened that night. I found the stories fascinating, but I was much more engaged in Jenna's story and her search for Alice and working with Virgil and Serenity to learn the truth.
And then the story took a twist that I did not see coming.
There was a moment when Virgil and Serenity first appeared in the story, and I thought I had picked what was going to happen; and then something happened that made me change my mind. (I can't say what without giving away spoilers, so this may sound confusing. Just read the book, ok?)
Well, it turns out I was kind of on the right track- but not to the extent of what turn the plot took. Despite my earlier thoughts, I was caught totally by surprise and left gaping at the pages.
If you are a psychic sceptic, completely against the idea, you're not going to like Leaving Time. If you believe in that kind of thing, or are at least willing to suspend your disbelief long enough to read 398 pages, I recommend it.
If you like elephants, I really recommend this book, although it has some very sad stories in it about elephants and grief.
More than anything, Leaving Time is really about the relationship between a mother and her child.
A few months ago, I had a M*A*S*H marathon. Not for the first time, and not for the last time, but it had been maybe a year since I actually marathoned the entire series.
Now, I really love Alan Alda. He is the bomb, and when if he ever dies (I'm hoping he'll just live forever. Him and Julie Andrews), I may actually have to take time off to grieve.
My mum got me into M*A*S*H in 2007, during my last year of high school, and I fell in love with it. Mostly because, as I mentioned, Alan Alda is the greatest.
I knew Alan Alda had been in the last few seasons of The West Wing, but I'd never watched the show. I was 9 when it started, 16 when it ended, and it had never been something I paid much attention to. My mum however, loves it. I suspect this is mostly because of her love of Rob Lowe.
Anyway, when I finished my M*A*S*H marathon, I decided that I'd give The West Wing a shot. So, when I was home for a weekend in August, I borrowed my mum's boxset of the series. Last night, I finished the series.
And I loved it. Really, really, really loved it. It's brilliantly written, and the cast is amazing.
So, now that I've finished the series, I decided to list my Top 10 Episodes. It took a day of careful consideration, and 4 pages of notes, but I finally made my decision. I went through the episode guide and made a shortlist of every episode I remembered that completely grabbed me. There was 24.
From that, I shortened it to 10. And 5 honourable mentions, because I'm terrible at making decisions.(BTW, I just told that story to my mum and she laughed at me) Enjoy!
10. Shibboleth (season 2, episode 8)
It's Thanksgiving, and CJ's first Thanksgiving in the White House (because she had been sick the year before). As the episode progresses and she finds out this entire list of apparently traditional White House Thanksgiving traditions, including choosing between two turkeys (Eric and Troy) to see which is more photogenic and thus receiving a presidential pardon; I didn't think it could get better.
Until it ends in the President drafting the second turkey (which CJ still wanted to save from being eaten, even if he wasn't photogenic) into military service.
There's also a subplot where Charlie is on the hunt for a new set of carving knives for the President, which starts off funny and ends up being very sweet and heart-warming.
9. The Debate (season 7, episode 7) This episode was performed live, twice (one for each coast), which is really why it's on this list. I just find that amazing, plus it was completely gripping. I actually had to remind myself that this wasn't a real election debate at times!
It felt very real, and both Jimmy Smits and Alan Alda did such a brilliant job.
8. Dead Irish Writers (season 3, episode 15)
It's Abbey's birthday and the White House is throwing her a birthday party. I think I love this episode so much because the show was in the midst of such a heavy storyline about the President's MS, and there was so much humour in this episode. The President working on his toast for his wife and trying to be funny; and the First Lady, CJ, Donna and Amy just holed away, drinking.
Donna discovers she's actually Canadian, because the town in Minnesota where she was born has been moved over the border; and Abbey puts together a little surprise for her at the end.
7. The Leadership Breakfast (season 2, episode 11)
This episode contains probably my favourite episode opener of the entire series. But the clip below covers about every reason this episode is on my list.
6. These Crackpots and these Women (season 1, episode 5)
Five words: Big Block of Cheese Day. President Andrew Jackson once placed a two-ton block of cheese in the main foyer of the White House and allowed guests to enter, eat from the cheese, and meet with the President about whatever they thought was important.
In the spirit of this, once every so often, the Bartlet Administration take meetings with people who wish to discuss topics that wouldn't normally be given much discussion. Basically, these end up being random and hilarious episodes.
This is also the episode where we find out about Joanie, Josh's sister; and the President cooks chilli.
5. 20 Hours in America (season 4, episodes 1 and 2)
Yeah, technically two episodes but I'm counting them as one. Josh, Toby and Donna are stranded by the President's motorcade in Indiana during the election. That says it all, really. Another episode that you think is just going to be tremendously entertaining, but at the end surprises you with something really sweet.
4. Shutdown (season 5, episode 8)
President Bartlet shuts down the government when the Speaker of the House refuses to pass the Senate. What I really love about this episode is getting to see Josh showcase his brilliant political mind, through such simple actions. He suggests they go to the Capitol to negotiate the budget. When the President stops to greet some tourists, Josh suggests they walk the rest of the way. When the Speaker and the Republicans make the President wait, Josh suggests they leave; which changes the tide of the media in their favour, making the Speaker look to be the one to blame for the government shutdown.
3. Shadow of Two Gunmen (season 2, epsiode 1 and 2)
I do love a good flashback episode! Getting to see how the team came together during the campaign is fantastic- especially how Donna was hired. To have that as Josh and the President undergo surgery after both being shot and the fallout from that. Such a good episode.
2. Isaac and Ishmael (season 3, episode 1) This was the first episode of season 3, which aired in 2001. It doesn't fit in with the show's universe or timeline, but although I watched it for the first time 13 years after the events of 9/11; it's message is just as powerful now as I imagine it would have been then. It discusses terrorism in a calm, logical manner and I think I understood more after watching this episode than I did before. It's a powerful episode on a subject that is still relevant today, as the West Wing staff try and explain terrorism to a group of students.
1. Celestial Navigation (season 1, episode 15)
Josh gives a lecture about a "typical day" at the White House. Which includes Josh having to do the press briefing after CJ has a root canal, and accidentally alludes to the Presidents' "secret plan to fight inflation". The President's reaction is the best. Plus, Sam and Toby get lost on a drive to Connecticut.
HONOURABLE MENTIONS (AKA Episodes that I love but I thought 10 was a better number than 15):
1. Inauguration Parts 1 and 2 (season 4, episodes 13 and 14). Namely for this scene with all the Josh and Donna feels. Plus, Charlie in this scene cracks me up. (I can't find the scene on YouTube, so you'll just have to watch the episode yourselves!).
2. Pilot (season 1, episode 1). This is one of the best pilot episodes I've ever seen. It sets up so much, and all the characters are pretty much exactly as they are throughout the series, which isn't always true with pilots. I was hooked from the start!
3. And it's surely to their credit (season 2, episode 5). This episode has Ainsley Hayes' first day (who I love. She's awesome).When two staffers leave dead flowers on her desk with a note reading BITCH, Sam goes nuts. Which doesn't happen a lot and I think that's why I love this so much.
4. Noel (season 2, episode 10). A Josh-centric episode dealing with his PTSD after being shot. That's all. I do love Josh.
5. Stirred (season 3, episode 17). We have the President doing Charlie's tax return for him; and Donna trying to get a presidential proclamation for her high school English teacher, who is retiring. Because he can't do that, instead the President calls the teacher from the Oval Office. I think it's because I'm a teacher I love this so much.
THE OTHER EPISODES THAT MADE UP MY SHORTLIST (in case you're interested):
Debate Camp (season 4, episode 4)
Gaza/Memorial Day (season 5, episodes 21 and 22). [I know, they're two episodes. But I couldn't separate them]
On Wednesday night, September 24, I saw Wicked.
Now, this isn't so much a review, because this was my 18th time seeing the show and I'm admittedly biased, but I did want to write about this.
Wicked has just returned to the Capitol Theatre in Sydney, and even though I saw the show 8 times in the return Melbourne season this year; Wednesday saw a level of Wicked-high I haven't experienced in a while.
This is namely for 2 reasons.
I first saw the show in Sydney, June 2nd 2010 at the Capitol Theatre. And even though I've seen the show 15 times in other theatres, there's something about seeing the show in the same theatre, the same stage where it all started for me.
Every show I've got booked for the Sydney season thus far, I'm seeing the show with a Wicked virgin- someone who hasn't seen the show before. There is nothing I love more than seeing the show with someone who is seeing it for the first time.
My favourite view
Seeing my favourite musical at my favourite theatre in my favourite city... it doesn't really get better than that, does it?
I'm not going to lie- I got teary when we saw the Capitol Theatre and the lights were green again (they change colour for whatever show is playing there at the time). It'd been a long 4 years since I'd seen green lights on the Capitol.
I was lucky enough to win tickets for this show, thanks to a competition through the Liverpool Leader. A friend who lives in Liverpool had seen it and sent me the link. I entered on a whim and didn't think anything of it, and then... won. I don't really win anything (ever), so it was a major surprise.
I saw the show on Wednesday night, the last preview before opening night, with a colleague (she's kind of my boss... she's the Head of the English faculty, and I live in the English staffroom, even though I'm more technically a part of the HSIE faculty. It's complicated, haha). She knew nothing of the show, but she is a musical theatre fan.
View of the stage.
We were in the stalls, row U (centre), which is pretty good seats for winning free tickets! (View of the stage is closer than appears in the photo to your left).
Anyway, she loved it. She cried in Defying Gravity and in For Good and she was raving about how talented the cast are. We blasted the Wicked soundtrack all the way home (we drove up from Queanbeyan to Sydney for the show).
For my part, the show was as perfect as ever. Lucy sounded amazing considering she'd just come back from having the flu (it takes me weeks after being sick before I can talk properly, let alone sing!); and Jemma was as perfect as ever. Her I'm not that girl was especially heart-wrenching tonight.
I was also extremely happy to see Glen Hogstrom is back as Dr Dillamond, because he's so good at it, and I missed him during the Melbourne season!
The experience was dampened a little by a super annoying person sitting nearby, who I'm honestly not sure if they were drunk or not. (She cheered when Dr Dillamond was taken away. Like... who does that? Does she have something against Goats?) She also cheered when Boq ran off on Nessa at the train station and pretty much any time the Wizard spoke.
We did stage door after the show, which was cool, because my boss hadn't ever done that before! So, we had a quick chat to Steve Danielsen (Fiyero), who is lovely as ever; and I got a quick hug from Ed (Boq) before he had to run for a train. Lucy got swarmed, and accidentally drew on my arm with her marker; and Jemma got swarmed too, but we still got to have a quick chat.
It's always exciting when one of your favourite musical theatre stars get their own album... or a cast recording... basically anything where you can hear them singing in your living room.
Gretel and I at stage door after Grease.
So I was supremely thrilled when Gretel Scarlett announced her debut album. I love Gretel, she's so talented and one of my favourite people to talk to at stage door because she's so lovely and warm (and she's a Delta Goodrem fan, so she gets points for that!).
And it's been so cool to watch her go from Melena (Witch's Mother) in Wicked, where even though she only has a few lines, she has totally defined the character for me in my head (maybe that sounds weird, but it's true. I really miss her as Melena!); to her first lead role as Sandy in Grease, which is the most fun show I've ever been to.
So anyway, Gretel's album, Hopelessly Devoted came out on Monday, September 15 2014; which I immediately bought once I woke up and remained the highlight of my day (long story). And it's just beautiful, it's majority piano, vocal and strings, which is pretty much my favourite thing (although I am a sucker for a complete orchestra, which I think is because my dad's a brass band musician).
When a musical theatre person releases an album, my friend and I put it through a simple test- if we had no idea who that person was and had just stumbled across it on iTunes (which I do quite a bit, namely when I find a song I love and go looking for other versions of it), would I buy it?
The answer is usually "Yes", "a few songs from it" or "probably not".
And the answer for Hopelessly Devoted is YES.
It's taken me a day of listening to decide on a favourite track, and even then I've ended up with three:
1. Hopelessly Devoted to You- Gretel does an amazing job of this in Grease (as can be heard either by going to see the show- its back in Melbourne in December- or on the cast soundtrack via iTunes. Or in the video below); but with pretty much just piano and vocals it's even more hauntingly beautiful.
2. Let it Go- It's been 9 months since Frozen came out in Australia, and I'm still not over this song (although since the If/Then OBC was released, that is getting more play on my iPod I think. Just). I knew Gretel would do an amazing job of this song since she first hinted it would be on the album (she was understudy Elphaba in Wicked, so she can do an Idina song justice); but I still wasn't mentally prepared for just how amazing it is.
Album hint. Sandy meets Elsa.
3. No One but You (Only the Good Die Young)- I wasn't really familiar with this song until now, (confession) I'm not a huge Queen fan. I know, it's sacrilege. I like some of their songs, I just don't really... I don't know. But I usually have loved any song of theirs that is covered by someone I do like, and this is no exception. Gretel's rendition gave me chills when I first heard it, and it's been the song on the album I've played most in the last day since I bought it.
The album also features a duet of Katy Perry's Firework with Gretel's BFF and my #2 Glinda (after Megan Hilty) Suzie Mathers; and a duet of Say Something with Rob Mills (Danny in Grease and former Fiyero). There's also a beautifully slow rendition of We Found Love, which just missed out on making my top 3 tracks.
Today was school assembly today. And to be honest, they're usually not interesting. They weren't when I was a student, and they're not now that I'm a teacher.
But today was awesome. Here's why:
1. Year 12 commandeered the assembly, because it's the last one before they graduate (it was planned, but the other students didn't know that).
2. This was done with this clip from Harry Potter
before one of the kids entered as Darth Vader and "kidnapped" the principal and all the kids entered the hall to this music.
3. There were Teacher vs. Student Lip Synching Battles! No I did not take part.
As you may know (if you care and/or are paying attention), my next Wicked fanfiction is entitled "The Right Thing to Do"
I've been planning and trying to write this since 2012, and I am determined to finish it now!
If you've really been paying attention, you will know this fic has a secret (well, not so secret) title in certain circles as "the Sassy Gay Julyan fic".
Basically when I first had the idea, I ran it past Julia- as I always do (well, did. Not so much these days :( She's busy and time zones suck). And Julia demanded an OC.
When I told her there was no room in this fic for a female OC, she decided the simple solution was to make it a male OC. And of course, he should be sassy and gay. So, SGJ was born.
She was pretty insistent.
I really had no choice
Julia wrote him a backstory and everything (which I'm not using most of, but I keep it because it amuses me):
Right so Sassy Gay Julyan. He grew up in the
Vinkus with a dream of being a famous star on Emerald Street (the Ozian
equivalent of Broadway, obviously) but after coming out to his parents as gay,
they demanded that he stop with all the glitter and become a totally serious
lawyer. Naturally, he goes to Shiz with the intention of fulfilling his
parents' wishes, but soon meets Fiyero Tiggular, who teaches him it's okay to
put glitter in inappropriate places. But when Elphaba wrongfully punches
Fiyero's precious nose, Sassy Gay Julyan realizes that he needs to take action.
So he not only becomes an Oz-renown nose lawyer, but also, he becomes the
practically worshiped directed and star of the musical: "Smell the
Sparkle," a tale based on his life and his experiences as a Sassy Gay
Friend. He also frequently gives Fiyero Sassy Gay advice and flirts with all of
the guys in a (mostly) platonic way.
Yeah, Julia's still upset over Fiyero's nose being broken in Out of the Blue.
In case you couldn't tell.
Anyway, I'm not using a lot of that backstory, but I love it.
I wasn't really sure writing Sassy Gay Julyan (the character, not the story) would turn out, but when I showed the first mention of him to Julia, she loved it. As have a few other people who have seen it. So, I thought I'd share it with you guy.
"“Will we finally get to meet your friend? Julyan?” Boq asked.
They had all been hearing about Julyan for about two years, but none of them had ever met him. Julyan was Fiyero’s best friend since the boys were five, and all they really knew about him was that he was gay and living in the Emerald City. He had studied at the CEC earning a degree in performing arts, and was performing in the ensemble of Wizomania as he created his own musical in his spare time. The name of which kept changing. None of them were even sure there was a plot.
“I think so,” Fiyero answered Boq. “His contract with Wizomania was up a month ago, and he hasn’t mentioned anything in his letters about renewing it. He keeps insisting this is the year to finish the musical.”
“I’m pretty sure you need a plot and title before you can finish anything,” Elphaba said dryly.
“It has a plot!” Fiyero defended his friend.
She rolled her eyes. “Yero, the last I remember, it consisted of an epic love story between a pirate and a ninja; a talking unicorn and an underground break dancing society. None of which to me say ‘this is a logical plot’. It doesn’t even have a title, unless he’s reconsidered “Jump the Horn”, which references none of the above so-called “plot points.” Except maybe the unicorn,” she acknowledged as an afterthought.
“Ok, so it’s a work in progress,” Fiyero admitted. “But still…”"
It's only a little bit, but there you go. Enjoy ;)
I forgot to post about this during the holidays, so here it is.
If you read this regularly, or read The Ghost of Kiamo Ko, (or more specifically, the ANs for GoKK) you'll know I've had issues recently. Mental health stuff.
During the holidays I was officially diagnosed with anxiety and depression, and referred to a psychologist.
Because of this, I wanted to document the journey/experience/whatever you want to call it. But I didn't want to bum everyone out on this blog about it, preferring to keep the focus on my writing, musicals, life, etc.
So I am introducing To Turn on the Light, my new blog, specifically about this part of my life.
I'd be really grateful if you check it out. It's not much yet, but hopefully that will change.
I can't believe I forgot to post this! I saw this dress in April 2013 and have been waiting all this time to use it, and then forgot to put the picture up!
(Also, please ignore the fact that I'm in the photo)
No, kidding. Obviously, I'm not dead. But that's immediately where my mind goes when I read a sentence starts with "If you're reading this". There's a whole trope about it, even.
Anyway, this post is going up after chapter 18 of The Ghost of Kiamo Ko is up, which is the chapter which changes everything.
So, I thought the time was right to discuss some of the plot changes I made and why I made them. I was originally going to do this in a video, but I eventually decided against it.
There were 3 big changes I made in GoKK from Rebecca, and several smaller changes I made either to fit the new plot caused by the big changes; or just to make the story my own. So, I'm going to talk about those 3 big changes.
WARNING: Spoilers for Rebecca ahead! If you haven't read the book, or seen the movie or seen the musical and you don't want to know what happens, STOP reading this now.
The thing about Rebecca is that its a gothic novel. Meaning dark, angsty and quite frankly- depressing. Explains a lot, right? And whilst I don't mind gothic literature, changes had to be made to fit Wicked into Rebecca's universe and characters.
1) Rebecca's death: Rebecca: She is an expert sailor with her own little boat and everything, and she dies in a boating accident.
GoKK: Sarima dies of a long illness. I changed this because of #3 on this list. In hindsight, I probably could have kept it the same, but it's simpler this way.
2) The dinner party: Rebecca: It's not a dinner party in the novel, but an annual costume ball that Rebecca and Maxim used to host, and Maxim and the new Mrs de Winter are convinced to resurrect it. As the new Mrs de Winter is an artist, she is trying to design a costume. Mrs Danvers finds a draft of a sketch, and suggests that she might be inspired by one of the portraits of de Winter ancestors in the gallery. Specifically, one of Caroline de Winter, a woman all dressed in white with flowing dark hair.
The costume ball arrives, and Mrs de Winter is keeping her costume a secret from Maxim and Frank (AKA Avaric). When she comes downstairs, Maxim reacts badly. Turns out, it was the exact costume Rebecca wore for her last ball before her death.
GoKK: I changed this because obviously, a costume wouldn't work for Elphaba unless she could disguise her skin. And I find that singing works well as a talent for Elphaba because she is a talented singing in the Wicked book, and well... the musical is fairly obvious. LOL.
If you want to see the scene from the 1940 movie, you can see it here.
3) Maxim's revelation: Rebecca: Much of this is the same as you see in GoKK. They got married, Rebecca revealed herself as a bitch and had numerous affairs. They hated each other, she died and Maxim confesses his love for his new wife.
However- Maxim's confession was very different. Yes, he hated Rebecca and loves his new bride... but (SPOILER) he also killed Rebecca. I KNOW!!! He went down to the boathouse to confront her about her most recent affair (with a gun), she said she was pregnant and it wasn't his- although it would be raised as his- and he was so mad he shot her. (Although in some adaptations, he pushes her and she falls and hits her head and dies that way). And then he put her in the boat, took it out of the bay and sank it.
And that's why he keeps the new Mrs de Winter at a distance.
GoKK: Honestly, no matter the circumstances, I just couldn't see Fiyero committing murder. Or I didn't want him to commit murder, haha.
So that's that. The three big changes I made. Maybe you guys could see it differently. Maybe you really wanted Fiyero to have killed Sarima (like Julia). Thoughts? Comments?
I put this video on Twitter, the "Ozian is an Official language" FB page and my tumblr but I had to share it here too.
Lucy Durack (Glinda) posted this video of her, Jemma Rix (Elphaba) and Steve Danielsen (Fiyero) lip synching to Iggy Azalea's "Fancy" on the way to the theatre for a double show day.
So, if you're reading this you've either stumbled on to my blog somehow (which somehow always surprises me, even after 2 years of having said blog) or you've just read my Author's Note for chapter 15 (technically it's the 16th chapter posted but as chapter 1 was the prologue, I'm referring to it as ch 15, ok?) of Ghost of Kiamo Ko.
Which means if you read the aforementioned AN, you're here about my new Facebook page. So, there is the link and here is some information about it.
Dude, you already run 2 Facebook pages.
Yes. Yes, I do.
Ozian is an official langugage was created because when editing my Facebook profile one day, I was outraged you can claim Simlish, Pirate and Sarcasm as "Languages I speak" but not Ozian, which is totally a language. And since then, it's really developed into a Wicked fangirling page for myself, so I don't annoy all my non-Wicked fans Facebook friends. Where I try and use as much as the Ozian vocab as possible, because it's fun.
I am still very proud of the Wicked Debating Society page, even if it hasn't taken off as much as I would have liked, and quite often has a habit of falling into "Carlie is stuck on a fanfiction and needs some help". But the point of it was because talking in-depth about Wicked (as in plot, characters, etc) is fun and quite frankly, 140 characters on Twitter is not enough. I think mostly I'm just proud of the profile/cover pic.... still. What is the point of this page?
There are actually several points to this page.
You can recommend good (or bad if you want) fanfics you are reading/have read.
You can discuss/question/rant about issues regarding fanfic in general.
If you have an idea for a fic, but it's not something you feel strongly enough about to want to write yourself, you can donate it to the page in case someone is looking for an idea.
Do fics have to be Wicked related?
Nope. Any fandom, pairing, genre you want. You never know who will be interested. For instance, I'm reading a quite good Harry Potter parody fic I've found (the first parody fic I've actually enjoyed), and posted said link on the page. Of course, I'm sure there will be many Wicked fics on there, but any and all is welcome.
So, this page isn't about your fanfiction?
No. I'm sure at some point I will be posting about my own stuff, but no. This is just a page for those who like reading, writing and talking about fanfiction.
I have debated in the past establishing a Facebook page for my own writing but a few things keep stopping me. Mainly,
a) Would anyone be actually interested?
b) Is it weird (or stuck up) if I do that? Or is it just marketing myself as an author on as many platforms of social media as I can?
In conclusion, check out the page! And get involved!
This weekend I was in Adelaide for the Cabaret Festival. Of course, this time last year I was in the same place at around the same time seeing Idina Menzel, which is very hard to top!
We saw two shows of the festival, although there were more we would have liked to have seen if time had allowed.
High School Disco:
On Friday night, we went and saw High School Disco, Tim Campbell's show to celebrate his debut album of the same name. I was so excited for this show, because not only is the album great, but because I'd been waiting since 2010 for the chance to meet Tim Campbell. Tim was my 2nd Fiyero I ever saw in Wicked, and my favourite (well, one of them. I have 2).
Me with Tim Campbell :)
High School Disco is all about celebrating the music of the 70s and 80s. Of course, I wasn't born in either of those decades (I was born in 1990. But I was conceived in the 80s if that counts?), but I knew the majority of the songs anyway, because it's great music. Plus, my mum is a huge 80s music fan, and an even bigger fan of 80s movies- which feature so many of the most famous songs from the era.
The show was awesome, and it captured the feel of a disco in high school... ok, yes my high school discos were in the 2000s, but from what I can tell the only thing that's really changed is the music.
Tim posing with the gift bag we got him.
And yes, I met Tim :D And he was just as funny and lovely as I'd always imagined from seeing him on TV and Twitter. And now I can cross that off my bucket list (not even joking. It was on there). We got him a little gift, just some chocolate and wine and he liked it, so I'm stoked.
Picture Perfect:
On Saturday night, we went and saw Picture Perfect, a song cycle written by Scott Evan Davis and starring (amongst others) David Harris, Amity Dry and Johanna Allen.
This was my first song cycle, I'd never even heard of it until we booked tickets! It was a beautiful show, with some lovely music. And the whole cast were amazing, everyone is so talented! I don't even think I could pinpoint a favourite part of the show.
Me with Amity Dry
I was also very excited to get to meet Amity Dry, I played her first album The Lighthouse on repeat for several months when it first came out. And she was so lovely, and I got both her albums signed.
With David Harris
And as always, it was lovely to have a chat with David Harris. I think I was most excited to give him his present (he's moving to the US soon...ish), Kelly and I were so proud of it! Haha. I love giving people gifts, especially gifts we've put a lot of effort into making (also, the bag was quite heavy and I'd been lugging it around all night, haha).
This is what we had made for David. Cool, huh? Sydney Harbour, Bondi Beach and the Maitland Town Hall- because that's where he's from.
So that was my weekend. Finished off with heart palpitations and an inability to breathe last night which meant I had to call myself an ambulance. Scariest moment of my life, and a real bummer on which to finish the weekend. (I'm ok now. Mostly).
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