My Turning-Thirty-Freakout

Towards the end of the year I will be thirty. Thirty. That’s three whole decades of heartbeats and 10,950 days of breathing in and out.

For someone who is approaching halfway to sixty (Eeep!) I really haven’t done all that much with my life. I know it’s all comparative, there will always be people who have accomplished more than me and there will always be people who have accomplished less but I can’t help but feel that I have come up short with where I should be at my age. Am I being too critical of myself or am I simply being realistic? Either way, as the months roll on I can’t help but look at where I am, where I have started from and wonder where I am headed. Continue reading “My Turning-Thirty-Freakout”

TRAILER THOUGHTS: POINT BREAK (2015)

When I first heard that a remake of the 1991 action classic Point Break was in the works, I shuddered. I feared it would be a generic, boring and completely pointless re-iteration of something that never needed to be remade. Sure, Point Break is cheesy and over-the-top, but it’s a product of its time and had some incredible action (that foot chase scene through the houses is worth the price of admission alone), great direction from future Oscar-winner Kathryn Bigelow, entertaining and memorable characters and lots of great one-liners.

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An Interview With CHESS director Ryan Fogwell and lead Tavis Cunningham

Tavis+Steph Chess hero mediumIt’s hard to describe Chess, the musical composed by Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus from ABBA with lyrics by Tim Rice, with its intricate plot, complex characters and multitudinous themes of love, politics and war – one really has to see it to appreciate it. With such well known songs as Anthem and One Night in Bangkok, this production has won countless fans all over the world and its original London production, starring Elaine Page and Murray Head, ran for three years on the West End. I spoke with Director Ryan Fogwell and lead Tavis Cunningham, who plays Anatoly Sergievsky, about the new production coming to Manly, NSW for a limited run this May.

Let’s talk about Chess. For people who haven’t heard of nor seen the musical before – what is Chess about?

Tavis: It’s set in the middle of the Cold War in 1979-1980 – a bit more into the later of the Cold War I guess, – and it’s really about how people are controlled by their countries and the political machinations that are going on between members of the US and the Soviet Union. It’s all taking place during two chess tournaments – one in Italy and one in Thailand. It follows the Russian chess player [Anatoly] and one of the members of the American team [Florence] who they get together during the first chess match and then various complications happen.

Continue reading “An Interview With CHESS director Ryan Fogwell and lead Tavis Cunningham”

An Evening With Michael Bolton at the Palais Theatre

Last Saturday night I had the pleasure of seeing the An Evening With Michael Bolton concert at the Palais Theatre in Melbourne. I’ve wanted to see him live in concert for a very long time now. I was raised on his music and having missed my chance twice before of seeing him live, I wasn’t going to miss out a third time. I dragged my Mum along – aka the reason for my love for his music – with me and this is how the night went.

Please note, I am going off memory so some details may be slightly off.

Continue reading “An Evening With Michael Bolton at the Palais Theatre”