Month: March 2013

Celebrate World Book Day

Millennium Library Norwich

Today is World Book Day here in Blighty. One of the main aims of the event is to disconnect today’s cyber-mad yoof from their gadgets and gizmos and save them from irreparable damage to their imagination (i.e. anything beyond the visual). Pissing in the wind? I hope not. I’m an irrepressible optimist. So, my friends, support the cause by popping out to a bookshop and picking up the real deal in paper and card to have and to hold from this day forward. A bit short of the readies? No problem, join your local library. It costs nothing. Libraries can be exciting and surprising places these days. Gone are the days of stuffy shelves, dusty benches and bespectacled bookworms whose only words were “shush!” The best of the bunch are multi-media extravaganzas that stimulate all of the senses, none more so than Norwich’s Millennium Library at the Forum. For the sixth year running, this hi-viz high tech vortex of culture and learning has been named the most popular library in the realm, with over 1.3 million visitors passing through the doors each year. I knew it was quality the moment I found my own literary witterings in their catalogue. Naturally, I had to borrow the book to make sure. I won’t keep it for long. I know what happens in the end.

9781904881643-Perking the Pansies COVER.inddIf Norwich is too far to trot, you’ll also find Perking the Pansies in the British Library, The National Library of Scotland, The City of Sydney Library, The Liverpool City Library (that’s Liverpool in New South Wales), The Stonnington Library, South Yarra, Australia and The Wellington Public Library in New Zealand.

Not bad for a debut book by a nobody who is neither a reality TV star nor a celebrity cook. I’m gobsmacked, as they say in the tabloids.

Postscript:

Today is also my old girl’s birthday. She’s 84. Happy birthday, Mum!

Amazon and the Tax Man

It’s great to see that the latest Amazon ad for the new Kindle Paperwhite is LGBT inclusive. Now all Amazon has to do is pay fair taxes in the countries in which it trades (oh, and not keep me waiting until I reach a threshold of sales from Amazon.com before sending me a cheque in dollars that I have to pay a fat fee to cash). After all, someone has to pay for the roads used by their delivery vans and the health and education of their employees. I could go on but you get my drift.

Gareth Thomas, Dancing on Ice Drama

Gareth Thomas, Dancing on Ice Drama

Perking the Pansies Jack and Liam move to TurkeyFormer Welsh international, Gareth Thomas, demonstrated that he’s just as nifty on ice as he is on the rugby field. The man mountain with more muscles than Atlas proved that big doesn’t mean clumsy as he lifted and glided with elegance and flair. It’s enough to make a boy go weak at the knees. Even though gorgeous Gareth had to drop out of the competition due to ill health, the boy from the Valleys did well, very well. Get well soon, Gareth.

Now the Welsh beefcake has hung up his sequins and skates, he’s got time to catch up on his reading. And guess what he’s reading?

Gareth Thomas Perking the Pansies

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Nine to Five

Nine to FiveDespite a head cold that had me supping on the gin and Lemsip, Liam managed to get me to Dolly Parton’s  ‘9 to 5’ at the Theatre Royal, Norwich. Adapted from the 1980 movie comedy starring Dolly, Lily Tomlin and Jane Fonda, ‘9 to 5’ is a high-energy musical farce about three overworked and overlooked female office workers exacting delicious revenge on their lazy, lecherous, sexist, misogynistic boss. We had terrific seats for a terrific show with some terrific tunes and terrific lines (“You’re just a typewriter with tits.”). Amy Lennox* was uncanny in the Dolly role. If you closed your eyes, you’d think it was the chesty chanteuse on stage. Natalie Casey as Jane Fonda was superb with sharp comic timing and a tremendous voice. Slightly more disappointing was Jackie Clune in the Lily Tomlin part; a few more dance lessons might help. Veteran trouper, Bonnie Langford, almost stole the show in her supporting role as the boss’s fawning assistant.  Bonnie can throw her legs higher and wider than anyone I’ve ever seen on stage, screen or porn flick. The gorgeous Dolly has quite a following among the gay fraternity and the audience was liberally sprinkled with fairy dust, including the man next to me whose shocking hair don’t would have him run out of Soho. Dolly herself appeared as narrator on a large clock-faced screen above the stage. Saying “thank you” to Norwich was a nice touch and Dolly brought the house down when she launched into the familiar ‘9 to 5’ theme at the end.

*We saw the talented Amy Lennox in ‘Soho Cinders’ last summer and she was superb in that too.