No doubt then, that I will be up late once again tonight and in some random mood. Hopefully it will be a pleasant one. I have realised though that I haven’t really been talking much about Magic in this blog, and really as Magic Dave I should do.

I’m currently trying to learn a new book test. I say its a new book test, but I’ve had it for a while and somehow in the chaos of moving around I’ve lost the manual. which doesn’t help. Its pretty cool stuff though. I feel like my magic once again is evolving into something more based along the Derren Brown style of magic, I’m getting into the whole psychology behind things and why we do stuff. Its really interesting to see. I’ve been studying ideometric movements, something that I will try and post a video or blog about, once i’ve routined a nice trick about it. Until then, the ramblings shall ensue

Since I’ve been so bored, I’ve had the opportunity to redesign the Magic Dave website with something that looks a lot better and hopefully cooler too. I’ve got rid of the google Ads too. Officially because I didn’t believe that the adverts looked good, nor were they adding anything to the site (unofficially as with the reason for creating the new site design – I accidentally deleted all the web pages,  [barring the blog] and was therefore forced to create a new site)

So the unemployment situation is fun at the moment. I say unemployment. I technically am employed but with barely enough hours to get me by. So I am looking for a new job, and hopefully something above the £5.80 mark. Min wage is great, but its nothing to live on really. Especially when you see a new flat that you want. Not that I am going a little bit out of my league, but with what I was spending in Aber, I can get a luxury penthouse apartment here… hmm choices choices…

So I am looking for performance venues, along with any other general work! Oh and something good to watch on TV.  I know I’m asking far too much there, but considering that I am watching re run after re run at the moment… and DVD’s is enough to drive anyone mental.

I just realised as well that I haven’t explained my slightly unusual post title. I understand that most of my titles are useless and irrelevant, but just in case we were unsure I thought I would actually elaborate on this one. I am trying to stay awake because I am currently on night shits. And so, as to not fall asleep at work, my current plan is to mess up my body clock enough that it keeps me awake tomorrow night. Or at least that is what I hope.

On another note… well I was watching Derren brown and forgot what that another note is… oh dear… I guess I’m going to leave this for now and consider other ways of staying awake. No doubt by the time that it gets to 5am I’ll be on here again writing my deluded and slightly crazy notes to all you wonderful people again.

So I’ve been so busy recently that I’ve kind of forgotten about this blog page… whoops. So here I am trying to post once again. So an update about what I’ve done for the last few months.

S.A.D. The Musical was a great success, along with good reviews we got asked to perform it again. Unfortunately this didn’t work out in the end, but ce la vie. I moved onto my next production called Blood Wedding by Frederico Garcia Lorca. it was a good production, loved working on it and got to work in an old school theatre that had lots of history.

I then moved onto a modern production of Macbeth. Which was great! Otherwise i’ve been busy with other shows and not had time to do this blog…

But a little note for the web – i’ve discovered the wonder of google ads. Apparently I get paid if people click on the links – SCORE!

So there are a few things that I’ve been thinking about. The main thing is drinking. I’ve stopped drinking during this production, and it has got me thinking. If I had been drinking over the last few weeks, what would I have done differently? There are a few things that I’ve realised I probably would have done.

1 – whenever I got stressed, I’d have drunk. But by drinking I would have forgotten what I was supposed to do, and probably done it badly too. Which wouldnt have been good.

2 – I’d have been hungover. Rehearsals when hungover aren’t much fun. It comes to point where I wouldnt be able to work, never mind think.

3 – I probably would have asked a certain girl out now. I wish I should have already, but I’ve never had an excuse. I suppose drinking in this situation may have been a good thing, the whole mini confidence thing, but then again it probably wouldnt have been the right time. I think the only thing would be if she said no (knowing my luck that would be the most probable thing) I may not remember it.  But is that really a good thing?

Theres a load more to, and to be honest with you my dear readers I would love to continue on this, but I think there is one thing that sums it up. Overall I think I am better sober then I am drunk. I am fitter, healthier and have more money to spend, my skin is improving and im feeling more awake (most of the time). The confidence thing, well that will come with time, but for now I’ll be OK.

Also I would like to invite you all to see the production I am working on called S.A.D. The Musical. It’s in the Foundry Studio in the Parry Williams Building, Aberystwyth University – tickets are available at:

I have been in rehearsals all day, as per usual and one of the things we talked about over our lunch was Chat Up lines, more specifically the “best ones”. I’ve researched a few and interjected them here and there in this post, just for the fun of it. I guess my challenge is to make them link some way.

Last Night I was matching the stars with what I love about you… It was all good until I ran out of stars

Anyway It’s strange, this whole thing of popularity. You dont think about it, and quite often as a performer, entertainer, director, general idiot that runs around doing everything everyone else should, you really dont notice it until people say “We like you” or “You’re really good at what you do”. I got called a professional yesterday. Thats something that doesnt happen often. It was actually relating to this event – me fire eating

Me Playing with a bit of fire... fun fun fun

Yes that is me, being very stupid and playing with fire. I guess the phrase “Dont Try This At Home” comes into mind here. It was a lot of fun though and the photographers were really good sports. We even went for a drink with them. The words professional, and cool and fun, were thrown around which I liked… I guess its nice being seen to be good at something.

I just realised there was a point to me writing this post, instead of it being my usual insomniac rantings. I’ll use a new chat up line for it.

Break a bit of ice on the bar and say “Now I’ve broken the ice can I buy you a drink?”

or

About how drunk do you think I’d need to get you, for you to come home with me?

Yes that is right boys and girls we are talking about drink. One thing I have come away with from our rehearsals is just how much we have to drink. Is it such a vital part of our life that we cannot live without it. Have we all become closet alcoholics or is it just the student life? I guess there are many reasons as to why we have allowed alcohol to slowly creep into our society more and more. I’m hoping that in our production called S.A.D. The Musical we’ll be able to look deeper into that.

For me the way that I see it, is that its a comfort thing. I guess when it comes to me drinking, I use it as an excuse. I can be more confident, more daft, more “unsensible”. I know other people feel this way, but I think sometimes we use it as a crutch. Far too often alcohol becomes the excuse. Think about all the times you’ve been drunk and when you’ve looked back. How many of those times do you laugh at and think “I was only drunk”? I know too many people who do that. It’s not good.

We even joke about it… I found myself doing it earlier this week in rehearsal. Setting up a projector a couple of times and getting things ready is tiring and stressful at times. And so, I jokingly said to a cast member; “you know I really think its time for the pub now.” They laughed and I thought nothing of it. But now I do. Why is it that my first reaction on “how to deal with a stressful situation” was “lets go to the pub”… I dont think I’ll ever know, and if I do, I dont think it would be just yet anyway.

If I had to choose between one night with you or winning the lottery…I would chose winning the lottery…but it would be close…real close…

I’ve been doing a lot of extra curricular reading recently, and one thing that I’ve been thinking about is why we choose certain things. They say for example when working with children or anyone with memory problems, you should always ask questions both ways round, as it may be that they only remember the second option (i.e. “would you like chips or beans” or asking “so do you want beans and chips”) If you ask basic questions like that to a child you’ll find that they are fickle… But this doesnt stop with children.

Why is it as adults, we make random choices and develop superstitions. For example. If you are playing the lottery, why does no one put down the number 1 2 3 4 5 6. Surely they have exactly the same odds as every other number combination, but why is it that people dont think that one is lucky enough to come out. I’m tempted to play the lottery once in a while with those numbers to see what luck I get. But then again with the odds of winning, I’d rather save my money.

What about the old myths of walking under ladders, breaking mirrors etc. Why do we choose to follow them. As a theatrical person, I know many stage myths, such as leaving a candle on in a space (now usually a fire safety light) and never saying the name of the Scottish Play. While I dont follow these supersistions, I do wonder why we do these things. Do we really believe that they will give us luck? Or are we presuming that if we dont do them, bad things will happen.

It really comes down to this. Its a chicken and egg issue. Does the bad luck in these situations come because we dont do the thing? And even so, does this bad luck already exist there, as a natural occurance, or is it simply because we believe in it that we make it true. If we believe in something with enough conviction, it makes itself true. If you believe that when you walk under a ladder you are gonna get hurt, does that paranoia actually make you get hurt? I hope you are getting what I am trying to say. Anyway its 2:30AM and therefore I’ve had enough… So I’ll leave you with a few of my favourite of these chat up lines.

Before I do though, I did read an article recently that said that the best chat up lines are the intelligent ones, the ones that stimulate conversation (thanks to quirkology for that one)

(my favourite) My mother told me Id never find a girl like you. Can we go tell her she was wrong?

Do you believe in Santa Claus? Do you think that if I am good this year, he’ll put you in my stocking this year?

I’ll cook you dinner if you cook me breakfast.

Do you know how much a polar bear weighs? Neither do I but it broke the ice.

If I were to ask you for sex, would your answer be the same as the answer to this question?

Hi, I just wanted to give you the satisfaction of turning me down; go ahead say no.

and finally

You look like the type of guy/girl who’s heard every line in the book…so what’s one more?

Anyway… I’m trying to think of something to talk about. Something either theatrical or performance based other than the fact that I hate a certain medical profession… Ah ha…

For those of you who dont know I am currently working as an assistant director on a devised production which means one thing… Research… Lots and lots and lots of research. I went to the National library of Wales today to continue my research into our theme – which I’m not mentioning much of here, except the title of our piece is S.A.D. The Musical.

I’m not going to talk about the work I did cos that would be boring. Instead I am going to talk about how I made a fool of myself outside the National Library earlier. As I was waiting for my book to be delivered I went for a walk around as it was a beautiful day outside. Standing outside looking around I saw the wonder of Aberystwyth at its best.

(Deciding to walk around the garden areas nearby I took a few steps down a flight of steps, only to end up head over heel falling down the steps, grazing my arm and back… Ouch.

(On another note the phrase head over heel… isn’t that the way its supposed to be… Shouldn’t it be heel over head. I suppose that doesnt have the same kind of ring to it… anyway i rant…). I had to go back into the library slightly dishevelled, in a bad mood. Still having to find something to kill time I decided to go inside and cheer myself up with a hot chocolate… I did get slightly distracted though when I saw this…

So I had chocolate gatau It brought a smile to my face and made me forget about the pain in my arm. I did my research and continued. Well thats the whole “Fear” segment written…

Fame

I’m finding it strange at the moment. Already many freshers are starting to get some knowledge of who I am, the traditional songs and people coming up to me never ceases. I was performing in a bar recently (spur of the moment thing as I was asked by a friend to) and lo and behold people started to recognise me, asking me for my facebook profile and to… yep you guessed it… show more! I’m always happy to do this, but I feel like this will become somewhat mundane and frustrating. Although I do have a photographer coming to take pictures of me performing on tuesday which will be fun. Stay tuned for more information and of course pictures of me performing some of the cool stunts I do. (You can always see them first hand as well if you come to the bandstand in Aberystywth, today at 8PM… i just realised what time it was)

One last thing before I go… After doing some reading into a few mentalist subjects I’ve decided I’d like to do a few experiments. If anyone would be willing to help get in contact with me. I’m looking for people who have an interest in the supernatural, or have previously been hypnotised, or say for example: if the Derren Brown Subliminal Message thing worked on them, these are the kind of people I am looking for. It’s all for a good laugh and a bit of fun and shall be interesting to see. All shall be explained, and I’ll post my results on here…

I’ve also been working on my hypnotism skills with some good successes. I’ll post my latest “work” up here for people to see soon.

As its now 2AM I think its safe to say I should be going to sleep. Thanks for putting up with me everyone as I work through my stress…

(A special thanks to Rhi, who was kind enough to cheer me up and keep on chatting to me while I constantly complained )

Anyway. I’ve discovered the joys of owning a website, and that is there are none. I am not the most tech savvie person when it comes to webdesign and so I’ve left it up to a few different people to design something for me instead. I can just about work this blog and that is good enough for me. Yet I have more and more demand for such a website to come soon and I can’t do it! (well just yet anyway). This has been brought around by the fact I have got some more gigs recently and more and more people are asking me about my website…

I got some promotional material today, the usual business cards (with new email and such) along with a couple of free pens and a t-shirt with my website on it. Cool I thought. That was until I realised that on the T-shirt I’d put the wrong web address on the back (whoops). I guess we learn from our mistakes. Mine is to remember my own site!

Ive been wasting my time on youtube and found this little gem from Jack Black

Completly random I know but hey its that time of night.

I think Chris Crocker had the idea right when he did this whole “Leave Britney Alone” thing and I think the same should be done for Michael Jackson. He’s dead, leave it. There is no need at all for all of this argument over wills or using the publicity to advertise a record label that is being started up. It is pretty much pointless and disrespecting the dead. Or at least that is my idea about it anyway.But there have been some great and some strange tributes posted on Youtube, some of which I have found and put here for your enjoyment:

This one is all Acapella. Pretty impressive considering this is one man, a webcam and a lot of time…

Going to the weird next

Even people like Jamie Cullum are getting in on the Jackson tributes – see 3:30 in this film taken at Glastonbury

Even Dizzee Rascal was getting involved in the tributes, but I couldnt find a decent enough video..

Anyway enough of the Jackson tribute. A fine dancer and choreographer died today as well. Pina Bauch died. Our thoughts are with their family.  It is a shame that such a creative and inspiring person has passed on and they will be sorely missed in the performance community.

On another performance note: I recently discovered the greatness of Improv everywhere. I’ve put a couple of their videos below

Suicide Jumper

Frozen Grand Central

and probably my favourite

Food Court Musical

I think I’m going to become a big fan of them and think that we should do some of that over here too… now just to find some accomplices

As Dave said not only he will be making Blogs on here but also some other people, and I am proud that I am going to be one of them.

I though that i would write a short Blog to defend my actions on that dreaded night that Dave mentioned in which the legend that was Seussical closed for good.

The night before the last show i was talking to the members of the cast who were organising the presents for the directing team and asked them to mention the production team who worked so hard in getting the show together. So I though a little mention was on the books, however the moment came, and we were asked to go onto the stage, due to a lack of cables, the cables around the tech desk were quite tight, and moving around them in low light was difficult, as i tried to walk out from my desk, the power cable to the lighting desk became unplugged and the room went into darkness at the perfect time to make it appear planned. A simple mistake, and in no way dopey as Dave said it was.

My hat off to Magic Dave for his help during Seussical, he managed to stop me stressing and exploding.

Cheers Magic

Bring on the disco’s

SEUSS

At this point I will stop quoting this wonderful musical that I am proud to say that I have been involved with and instead share some of the stories that have accumulated whilst being involved with this production mainly that of our “wonderful” Stage Manager.

I have a great appreciation for anyone who is involved within the theatre. From working from a directors perspective I know the amount of work that everyone puts in to these pieces, no one more than a Stage Manager. Especially one who also decides to take on the role of Deputy Stage Manager at the same time. (I know for all you none theatre practicioners this means nothing to you, but ah well!) This one though, was slightly dopey at times.

(I’ll try and not use any techie talk, but when I do I promise to put an explanation in brackets)
The biggest example of this was earlier tonight. For the curtain call (bows), the actors had asked us to do something special. Instead of walking off, the actors walked onto the raised staging and then a few actors made a presentation, thanking the directors.

Unbeknownst (yes I used a big word – go me!) to us poor techies, they also decided to bring us onto stage and make us bow, saying how great we were. While we all filed out from behind our desks, the Stage Manager manages to catch his foot on the power cables for the lighting desk, pulling them out. Of course this sends the entire building into darkness; the audience finding this hillariously funny. Meanwhile we are all fumbling around in the dark trying to get the building lit again. Strangely enough everyone thought that this was staged – for those of you who were there I can safely say it wasnt. A general rule of thumb, when dealing with thousands of pounds of electronics it is generally a bad idea to just unplug them. Don’t do it.

Anyway it’s now 3:20AM so I think it is only suiting that I sleep and share more Seuss stories tomorrow.