Buying things

[juliet]

I am a bad human being. Not only did I spend 10quid on yarn in John Lewis on Monday (but it was all in the sale! It was really good value!), but I also bought 2 knitting books I've been after from Amazon yesterday (one about knitting things in the round, one about designing stuff). However, the books came to almost exactly the same amount of money that my parents gave me for my birthday (25quid - they also got me a couple of books, & took me out to lunch), so that Doesn't Count. Ahem.

Snow has stopped again. Bah. Also, the fox woke up, wandered around the decking for a bit, & buggered off again. But she (it transpired to be a she) was very cute while she was there.

Went to see the first half of the "His Dark Materials" stage version on Monday, with Pete, kitty_goth, & shadow_jess. And very fine it was too. They used puppets for the daemons (with puppeteers dressed all in black, including having their face covered, moving around the stage with the daemons), & the armoured bears had their heads on one raised arm & a rake-like long curved paw on the other. It was, unsurprisingly, fairly stylised (for want of a better word) - but I am quite happy using the appropriate level of imagination to ignore the puppeteers & fill in the rest of the bear-shape :-) And it was extremely effective. The stage set was fantastic - lots of bits turning round & raising up & all sorts. Pete (ex-techie) dribbled copiously about it all the way home... Lyra was *excellent*. Really, really good. As was Will, although we didn't see so much of him (it finished with the scene on the tower where the use of the subtle knife is demonstrated). I'm very much looking forward to the second half, which we're seeing in a couple of weeks.

Last night was quiet: stayed in, knitted, watched a documentary on the miners' strike.

Comments

[catsgomiaow.livejournal.com]

holy crap are they still having that yarn sale? i spent £20 (on credit card - BAD) on pink cotton that will eventually be a jumper...

i may have to have another look in on my way home! (payday today!)

[rillaith.livejournal.com]

Ooooh that sounds rather good. Where is it on?

[juliet]

National Theatre, but I think it may be sold out now. Check their website, anyway.

[juliet]

There's very little left now - some rust-coloured Rowan cotton, & some bright green stuff, & some wool which I didn't really look at.

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

Money spent on knitting is never money wasted. I haven't knitted anything since my ITV Digital Monkey, really should knit something useful.

[juliet]

Join london.crafts! Also see our wiki at http://london-crafts.org/ . Next meet Sunday 22nd Feb.

[tkb.livejournal.com]

From The Observer, 4 January 2004, Pullman's magical fantasy becomes a National treasure

The show, which runs until 20 March, has been such a hit at the box office that all 126 performances in the 1,100-capacity Olivier auditorium are sold out, although 30 seats and 64 standing places are available each day from 10am. The technical scale and complexity of the two-part production, which runs as a double bill on Saturdays, means a West End transfer is highly unlikely, but it could well be revived at the National next Christmas.

(Emphasis mine.)

There's also the chance of returns: see the National Theatre's web page for the production for information on how to get a ticket.

It is well worth it -- and if you buy a programme you get a cut-out-and-keep alethiometer! (Mine doesn't work, but I'm sure this is just because I have past the age of grace and need to study a little more.)

I agree that Lyra (Anna Maxwell Martin) was good: I'd been put off the Radio 4 dramatisation slightly because their Lyra (played by Lulu Popplewell, born 1991) sounded more little-girlish than I'd imagined Lyra.

Fun is the opening of Part II (is this a spoiler? after a moment, I decide "No"), where you get c.5 minutes which should have opened with a voiceover "Previously, in His Dark Materials!" (I don't know if the Reduced Pullman Company quite works yet, though...)