Bits and Bobs

I feel like I’ve done a lot of editing the last few weeks. But!  To keep some sort of balance in my life, I’ve also had a fair number of other adventures, with more to come, and figured I’d round up this blog post with a few bits and bobs.

I’ve been lighting a lot of gigs.  This:

thefourohfive.com/review/article/in-photos-cate-le-bon-islington-assembly-hall-london-07-02-14

… was one that I lit, and is unusual in that there are awesome photos easily viewable.  (It was also a lovely, excellent gig!)  As always, one of the many downsides of being an LD, particularly in music venues, is you’re far too busy doing lighting work to actually take any photos.

This:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-26018424

… simply made me happy.

While on a day off we went to the V&A which remains still one of the most stonking museums I know:

This:

… summed up a lot of feelings as we ran into the awards for the Kitschies.  At the end, however, I was really really happy with the shortlist and indeed the winners – Ann Leckie with Ancillary Justice, and Ruth Ozeki with A Tale for a Time Being.  Both books rocked my world, as indeed did all the others on the shortlist.

I should probably also take this moment to say just how much I love Anne Perry and Jared Shurin, who are the awesome pair behind both the award and the pornotkitsch website.  It’s not just that they’re groovy fossil-hunters in their own right (seriously) but their campaign to elevate the quality of genre and the power of things that genre can do from merely mostly awesome, to absolutely mind-blowingly sensational, and then to make mind-blowingly sensational a base-line to which we all aspire, is in every possible way a noble cause.

The Kitschies judging panel was staffed by very cool dudes, but a special mention should go to this for providing welcome relief during the final process:

I’ve signed up for a show that’s prepping in Lyme Regis, and another in Northampton, both of which I’m informed are ‘beyond the M25’ whatever that means.  (As a Londoner, the idea of ‘leaving London’ is traditionally anathema.)  While waiting for final news on topsecretproject4 and topsecretprojects 4.1-.3, both of which are now go-go-go, I also suffered a brief bout of manic boredom, and started learning html, (<h1> <strong> WHEEEEE! </strong> </h1>), gave blood and went to the dentist for the first time in 13 years, only to be told (to my massive relief) not to come back for another 3.