The insanely boring life…

Right, I am an actor in our school’s one act play this year, “And then the puppets danced…”. It is an extremely experimental piece since nothing of its nature has ever been performed before. Unfortunately for us, the judges at all the competitions so far have said that it is predictable and so forth. We reworked the entire script and tonight we performed in the Durbanville Arts Festival.

We were the second to last piece to perform of all four nights when the festival was on. I was one of the few who went to see all of the other pieces perform (4 every night for 4 nights). I saw some really excellent pieces and some really poor ones.

One of the pieces that stood out for me above all the others was Tygerberg High school’s  “Wie”, or otherwise translated to, “Who”. It was close to a religious experience. It was about a girl who died, and as a ghost she tells the story of how she died. It was done extremely creatively, to be totally honest. I thought that production would win the festival.

Tonight, after the final pieces performed, the winner was announced. We anxiously waited for the name of the winning school, and I was convinced that the judges were going to say “Tygerberg High School”, but no. It was our production that won!

When the woman judge said this there was a moment of deafening silence. We were all so shocked because NO ONE expected to win. NO ONE, I tell you. After the shock wore off, we all screamed like maniacs! I really thought I was going to have a heart attack!

But I am being dramatic again. Let me stop and go sleep. I can’t wait to tell everyone!

I’ve been extremely busy for the past few weeks. The One Act Play and the Pantomime that I am in have been taking up every waking moment of my life. Tonight, though, is the last performance of the Pantomime, then we’ll be done. I’m quite upset about that, but it had to end. The one act play is also drawing to a close. We have a few weeks left, though, and four (confirmed) performances.

Today, though, I took a break to go see the movie musical, Hairspray. I have to admit that I was blown away by it. It was the most fun I’ve had in a movie in the longest time. I could hardly believe my eyes and ears. I downloaded the soundtrack immediately, of course, and I’m going to buy the sheet music at the end of the month. If you haven’t seen it yet, do yourself a favour. My opinion is a bit biased, though, because I LOVE movie musicals (and musicals in general), but just look at how every critic is praising the film.

But moving on, I think what I want to achieve with this post was just to say that I am still alive, even if the hard work we all put into both productions at school has almost killed the cast and company.

Oh, my word. That is all that I can say. I had very high expectations for this film and they were exceeded in almost every aspect.

Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson gave their best performances yet. Daniel’s acting has improved incredibly and one can clearly see that the director wanted honest emotions from the characters, and that is what he got. We got to see a side of Dan that we have never seen before: Angry Harry. He does it excellently (at least, better than the crying from POA) and I cannot praise him enough.

Rupert and Emma showed excellent progress as well. Rupert had more to do that pull funny faces and say corny lines, even though there was one or two (”Who are you and what have you done with Hermione Granger,” anyone?). I am surprised at Emma, though. Her eyebrows have always had a mind of their own, but they seemed to have calmed down in this film. Her performance was much more real than her previous performances, even though she does sound a little panicky at times.

Lune Lovegood was so adorable. She was so sweet and dreamy and innocent. Her,along with this Nigel character (which had a surprisingly large role), just killed me! I could just eat them both up. She was EXACTLY the way she is in the book.

Dumbledore was really very mean in this version. If you think he was mean in the fourth movie (”Did you put your name in the Goblet of Fire, Harry!”), then you’d be wrong. He was really a git, to be honest, but he has his reasons.

Bellatrix was amazing. Helena Bonham Carter is a splendid actress and I can’t wait to see her as Mrs. Lovett in Sweeney Todd. She was so deliciously mad that it was incredibly fun to watch.

Imelda Staunton as Delores Umbridge stole the show, though. Her little laugh and mannerisms were practically perfect in every way. Not to mention how wonderfully she portrayed the character being so sweet and yet so vile at the same time.

The rest of the cast was delightful to watch. Maggie Smith (Professor McGonagall) and Emma Thompson (Professor Trelawney) were wonderful and their scene together was really quite touching.

There is one particular scene where I just could not believe my eyes: The kissing scene between Cho and Harry. There is a reason this movie is PG-13! It went on for about 30 seconds! Their hands stayed idle, at least, but I’m not complaining! :p

Sirius’ death is a little different than it was in the book, I must admit. There was, in fact, no veil to speak of. Only an archway in a circular room. Bellatrix kills him with the Avada Kedavra curse and then he gets absorbed into the archway.

The following things (which I think are important) were not in the film:

• Quidditch has been entirely cut from the film. There is no mention of it or that Ron has become Keeper.
• Ron and Hermione never become prefects.
• Percy is hardly in the movie and if you hadn’t read the books, the fact that he is a total bi*** will go unnoticed to you.
• Dumbledore’s explanation of the prophecy consists of one line. Neville’s connection with the prophecy is not even mentioned. Neville only says that his parents were attacked by Bellatrix but not that they are still alive.

There were a couple of disappointments, though. The flashback scene where Snape is tormented as a child in 5th year is absolutely terrible. It is so brief and unclear.

Ginny had no lines whatsoever, yet she is supposed to Harry’s love interest in the next book. It wont help if no one knows who she is.

Besides that, however, I am extremely happy with this movie. It really is practically perfect in every way.

9/10

Last year I had a website called www.virtualhogwarts.co.za, and we had a podcast. I remember that there was one particular episode which was so hilarious everyone on the site just could not help laughing with us.

Anyway, I have located the recording. untouched as it originally was recorded and this is probably the 5 funniest minutes I have experienced online.

Excuse the fact that i sound like a chipmunk!

Listen to it by clicking here.

Tonight I experienced what was probably the most embarrassing moment of my entire life - and the worst part is that I didn’t even cause it.

We went to the Cattle Baron restaurant this evening (me, my grandmother and my grandfather) and we sat down. The waiter was obviously gay, and I have no problem with that, as most people who know me will know. My grandfather, however, is the worlds biggest homophobe. I knew from the moment that he asked us what we wanted to drink that this night could only end in tears.

Well, everything went well for about half an hour. My grandfather asked a lady if he could have another drink because, according to him, the guy was ignoring our table. The lady went to get the drink and brought it to the table. I suppose that is what started it.

She left, and a few moments later the guy came with our food. My grandfather said, “Thank you, madam,” thinking it was the woman who brought him his drink earlier. Me and my grandmother almost died. Sure, my grandfather didn’t look up when the guy spoke, but he didn’t sound THAT MUCH like a lady.

But it got worse. I was talking about how I needed to get out of the country because the career I want to enter has very little interest in South Africa. Theatre. Musical Theatre. At which point my grandfather angrily (and loudly) said, “You know what, everyone in theatre are a bunch of ‘moffies’.”

Now, ‘moffie’ (plural: ‘moffies’) is a very rude Afrikaans word to describe a homosexual person. It is the rudest one out there.

Anyway, I tried to explain that that wasn’t true, but he repeated himself even more loudly. Everyone looked at us, including the waiter. EVERYONE IN THE RESTAURANT!!! My grandmother and I shrank into the shadows.

When they guy brought us our bill, my grandfather loudly refused to give him any tip for no reason at all other than, I assume, the fact that he is gay.

If I had died right there and then, I would rather have spent an eternity in the fiery depths hell than suffer that humiliation. It was so embarrassing. I can probably never show my face in public again.

Please, someone - have mercy and kill me.

It has occurred to me from the beginning of this year that the presence of South Africans on the web has been increasing dramatically.

A year ago, even , most people would not have been able to tell you what MySpace is, and now regular South Africans are already debating whether Facebook is better than MySpace. The implications of what I have just stated are astronomical.

First thing to be affected will be the way people socialize. With Facebook gaining popularity with more than 120 000 South African members already, one can certainly imagine teens communicating with each other in this way. Not to mention the fact that Facebook’s High School Networking System has pioneered a way school friends can communicate with each other.

With more people moving online to communicate, Telkom has to change its act. It is already doing that, in fact. They have price reductions coming in August and that is a move in the right direction, after years of trying to milk every cent out of a struggling South Africa.

I am not an economy boffin so I will not say much regarding it,  but with more people buying into ADSL and therefore turning to the internet to shop and sell their goods and exposing their business to a wider and potentially international market, one can only imagine the implications.

So what is the future of South Africa and its presence on the Internet? Well, we don’t know for sure, but if the direction it is currently heading in any indication, then we can be sure that South Africa will finally be able to stand on its own and not just be part of “Africa” (or as the Americans love to say, “I’m going to Africa,” referring, in fact, to South Africa).

Wicked is a musical written by Stephen Schwartz and you can click on these links to download the songs from the musical.

1. No-one Mourns The Wicked
2. Dear Old Shiz
3. The Wizard and I
4. What Is This Feeling
5. Something Bad
6. Dancing Through Life
7. Popular
8. I’m Not That Girl
9. One Short Day
10. A Sentimental Man
11. Defying Gravity
12. Thank Goodness
13. Wonderful
14. I’m Not That Girl (Reprise)
15. As Long As You’re Mine
16. No Good Deed
17. March Of The Witch Hunters
18. For Good
19. Finale

Avenue Q is a very amusing musical, but certainly not one for children. Here are a few songs from it to show you why!

1. The Avenue Q Theme
2. What Do You Do With a B.A. in English/It Sucks to Be Me
3. If You Were Gay
4. Purpose
5. Everyone’s a Little Bit Racist
6. The Internet Is for Porn
7. Mix Tape
8. I’m Not Wearing Underwear Today
9. Special
10. You Can Be As Loud As the Hell You Want (When You’re Makin’ Love)
11. Fantasies Come True
12. My Girlfriend, Who Lives in Canada
13. There’s a Fine, Fine Line
14. There Is Life Outside Your Apartment
15. The More You Ruv Someone
16. Schadenfreude
17. I Wish I Could Go Back to College
18. The Money Song
19. School for Monsters/The Money Song (Reprise)
20. There’s a Fine, Fine Line (Reprise)/What Do You Do With a B.A. in English (Reprise)
21. For Now

Firstly, I am now on holiday and I have been uncapped.

I have also recorded a song called You Must Love Me on the piano. it is a song that was written by Andrew Lloyd Webber specifically for the movie version of Evita. Here it is:

Since Facebook.com has banned me because my school, apparently, does not exist, I needed to fine a new social networking site.

MySpace was out of the question and I wanted something that would allow me to customize my profile page to a larger extent than facebook allows and has other South African users. I tried Virb.com, but that didn’t work out so well because (according to the site) I kept typing the CAPTCHA code incorrectly. My next step was Bebo.com, and that is where I am staying.

It has nice features and it allows me to do quite a lot with my profile. I even have a badge thingy!

Andréhttp://AndreGerber.bebo.com/

But all that aside, I still feel a little friendless, because all my real life friends don’t really see the benefit of computers. They are not computer illiterate, but they have no use for social networking sites.

Anyway, you can come visit my page if you like.