:: Thespians? Need to watch out for them, you know... ::

Coming soon to a bar near you: Devukha and Hypatia braying theatrically into pints of G&T, while hapless Taxloss looks on in despair. Only joking - it will be great to catch up though, in the odd moment between luvvie activities...

Speaking of which, I spent my lunch hour learning Shakespeare's Sonnet No 129 for our Seven Deadly Sins charity show on 14th May. For those of you that can't remember the bard's sonnets by number, here it is:

Th'expense of spirit in a waste of shame
Is lust in action; and till action, lust
Is perjured, murderous, bloody, full of blame,
Savage, extreme, rude, cruel, not to trust;
Enjoyed no sooner but despisèd straight:
Past reason hunted; and no sooner had,
Past reason hated, as a swallowed bait,
On purpose laid to make the taker mad:
Mad in pursuit, and in possession so;
Had, having, and in quest to have, extreme;
A bliss in proof, and proved, a very woe;
Before, a joy proposed; behind, a dream.
All this the world well knows; yet none knows well
To shun the heaven that leads men to this hell.

Bit of a corker isn't it? You can read the other 153 here.

As far as the weekend is concerned, I hope to be catching up with a load of long-lost chums. Although it clashes with Hyp's birthday, I hope to be able to gt along to at least some of the launch party for Corsair Records.

La Booth has proposed a going away picnic on Sunday afternoon, but I'm not too enthusiastic about the weather prospects after recent events. If it all goes pear-shaped, there's always a house party to go to afterwards...

On Monday I'm rehearsal-free, so I'm going on another picnic with the regulars at the pub where we performed Shakers Re-Stirred Revived and currently rehearse for Amadeus. If it's not a washout, the programme of activities promises to be fun. We've all been asked to bring "a piece of paper to fold into something", so I'm going to teach everyone how to make kusudama. These are astonishing ball-like origami constructions made from large numbers of modules and joined without the aid of scissors or glue. Instructions for folding the traditional sonobe are here for you perusal. However, the limits of origami engineering have really been tested by some dextrous paper-flexers:

  • An impression exhibition of origami invention - a 900-unit monster and 200-unit bucy ball, among others.
  • This model consisting of 5 intersecting tetrahedra must be one of the most awesome things you can make from sheets of paper.

Enough about my origami aspirations, and on with the News. Any insistence that our education standards are in decline should be met with derision following the appointment of Dundee University's new rector. Downing Street is set to make history... by getting Peter Andre and Slovenian Ambassador together in same room. And Rasputin's penis is set to go on display...

And on that less-than-savoury note, I'd better get the hell off this darn thing.