Buying a TV

I went out and bought an LCD TV today. The drama group needs one so we can display a slideshow of cast photos in the foyer before each production now that the cast photos which were previously on the walls of the Green Room have all been digitised.

The idea is to get a slideshow going in the foyer to give people something to watch while they wait for the doors to open and go in.

If you're ever going to buy a TV set I have some advice for you: SHOP AROUND! It is interesting the variation in prices you can get. What I was after ostensibly was a 19" TV with a built-in DVD player, although I was open for other things, possibly a bigger screen. A friend saw such a machine at Dick Smith at Tuggerah (NSW) for $336 a few days ago, but I thought I'd look around myself. I wanted to actually test out the slideshow on CD on the machine, and also to compare sizes.

Firstly, there is a MASSIVE increase in price from 19" to even only 22". And the size difference between these screens is not worth the extra $150-200 or so you will pay. However, when you get to 26" or so, the difference in price to a 32" is tiny. So if you're going to go big, go bigger!

Joyce Mayne offered me a 32" (81cm) set for $599, which was really the best value. Bing Lee offered a 26" set for $550. For the extra $50, I'd definitely be going for the 32" machine. I went also to JB HiFi, but unfortunately, their prices weren't notably competitive, with their small sets okay but not brilliant, and IMHO their big sets were comparatively overpriced.

So I went back to have a look at Dick Smith Powerhouse (at Erina, NSW). Lo and behold they had the 19" set with built-in DVD (and also USB, HDMI, S-Video, Composite, Component and VGA inputs - crikey you can plug in anything to it) for $297, a whole $39 cheaper for the same product than their Tuggerah store. I just went online to have a look, and they are listed at $337, a whole $40 more.

So the moral is: shop around, even at different store locations of the same chain! Needless to say we have this 19" machine and you'll be seeing it in the foyer on Thursday. It'll also be a lot easier to store than the bigger machines, although the 32" set was VERY nice.

Second Post: 2010 projects

The daily blog task has been fulfilled now for two days in a row. Wow!

Today I spent a bit of time ringing around to get people to help out at Front of House for the show. This is always interesting, but very distractable (is that a word?). You find yourself chatting away 19 to the dozen and before you know it an hour has passed and you've only called three people!

There were two themes to discussions today. One is I should audition for a role in Cosi which is to be Wyong Drama Group's April 2010 production.

I've auditioned for and obtained roles in a couple of plays recently (Bedfull of Foreigners and Loot). In both cases I've had to pull out due to rather serious medical conditions. The first one, costo-chondritis (which translates as arthritis in the ribcage) for which I spent two weeks in hospital, and the second for testicular cancer (which meant an operation to remove one of them). The first affliction I've still got, the second I hope to hell I haven't.

Anyway, I'll see what transpires with regard to auditioning. I may not even get a role in the first place... And the trend might reverse itself - maybe if I'm sick to start off with, I'll spontaneously get better!

The second theme was that I should definitely submit a play for consideration by the group for me to direct. Last year there were four plays submitted: Inheritance (Julie Bailey), A Better You (me), All My Sons (Pam Campbell) and No Sex Please, We're British (Millie Sampson). I missed out, and in fact Fawlty Towers was done instead of All My Sons. (That's one hell of a substitution, eh?)

I got the impression A Better You wasn't something the group wanted. Yet from what I've been hearing at rehearsals and what transpired on the phone I was encouraged to resubmit this play for 2010. So I did that about half an hour ago.

A Better You is written by Mark C Bourne and is an Australian play about a group of women who contract a lecturer to come in for a self-improvement presentation. They try to brighten up their lives and increase their confidence. During the course of the lecture, the presenter gets a bit upset, so they calm her down with some tranquilisers that one of them originally had for her dog. It's a bit tricky working out the dosage for a human, and they err on the side of excess. This makes it look like they've actually killed the presenter, so they have to get rid of the body.

Just as they're trying to arrange disposal, a couple of other people rock up to rehearse their up-coming dance number in the hall, which seems to have been double-booked. There is inconvenience all around, as the dancers are miffed to find people already in the hall, and the ladies attending the self-help presentation distressed at their very probable discovery of a potential murder.

The play is very funny, using both light and dark humour and a number of farcical elements. It has a cast of seven women and one man and is a real tour-de-force for the stereotypical members of a drama/discussion/social group. The more I think about it, the more I'm of the opinion it'd be a really appropriate play for our group, and the audiences will love it.

First Post

Well, peoples, the time has come (I said) to talk of many things. Of shoes and ships and sealing wax, of cabbages and kings. And why the sea is boiling hot, and whether pigs have wings.

Or indeed of anything other than the abovementioned. Lewis Carrol (Charles Dodgson) must have been out of his tree. (Hmm, that's possibly some more work for him).

Anyway, after seeing the movie Julie & Julia I reckon it's time to start posting a blog (and to get right into this cliche thing) a journey of a thousand miles begins with one step. Problem is, my blog is most certainly not going to be about cooking (it may get an occasional mention). In fact, what it will be about at the moment is still indeterminate. But hey, let's not let that get in the way of things. Certainly a lot of events will popup that are going to be of interest.

For instance, today I have returned from one of the very last rehearsals of "No Sex Please, We're British" which is to open for Wyong Drama Group on 5th November. Like any play in the last week of rehearsal, this was far from perfect. I've never been involved in a play where an extra week or two of rehearsal before opening night wouldn't have gone astray. The poor souls in this play have only had nine weeks of rehearsal - I always like to get in twelve. However the play has a very athletic highlight done by Duncan Mitchell which I really should keep mum about for now. Duncan in fact does it twice in the second act. And it's almost worth turning up to the play just to see that!

Oh well, let's see what transpires, or do I really lead a humdrum existence as my wife Sharon would have me believe??