claytoncast

So that was 2012. I have to say it's been a rather good year. Not as much work as one might have hoped, but many things that have made me feel better. Not the least of which was a lovely Christmas away in a hotel in rural Nottinghamshire. Two absolutely fantastic bedrooms for Richard and myself, and mum. Great meals, fantastic hotel staff who couldn't do enough for us from the moment we arrived and a trip to the pantomime at the Theatre Royal Lincoln on Boxing Day afternoon to round things off. So many of us have our first experience of theatre at a pantomime. I know mine was -"Humpty Dumpty" at the Sheffield Lyceum in 1967 with the Cub Scouts. Such a shame that so many Christmas offerings are incredibly shoddy affairs. In my system for handing out points onto Equity cards like speeding points for driving licences, there were quite a few endorsements that should have been given out during this Boxing Day matinee of "Dick Whittington". Some people a...

 And so it's nearly here.  Our relationship has just survived another year of putting the Christmas tree up together. Apportioning tasks and letting the other person stick to them as the key. Richard does the lights, the wiring, and all the technical things, and I unpack the boxes of baubles and tinsel etc and start strewing them over the tree. Whereas in Acting I know that the principal that works most successfully is 'less is more', it's not a maxim that I apply to decorating our Christmas tree. Rich would prefer a slightly sparser look I think, whereas I'm all in favour of throwing the whole box  at the tree and seeing what lands!  The joy about about unpacking the box each Christmas is that there are particular decorations in there that we  have collected from our travels all over the world. Among others we have a gondola in a glass ball from Venice, a treetop decoration from Macy's in New York, a cartoon penguin from Reykjavik, and in a surprise...

 So my Christmas shopping has started in traditional style. It's not unknown that on my first day of Christmas retail I set off out into the December melee clutching my list determined to come home with as many parcels as I can. It's not unknown that in the first batch of parcels there will be gifts for myself. Much as though I enjoy buying presents for others, there is no delight that ranks alongside treating oneself. This year I've done it in style. It's five years since my Damascene conversion to the world of Apple. Prior to early 2007, I would scoff at friends who as far as I was concerned were lagging behind in the  technological revolution clinging to their Apple Macs. Yes, they were colourful. Yes, they looked good. But the PC was where it was all that. Or so I thought! In early 2007 I joined the show "Peep Show". At the same time as I formed a tentative working relationship with the lovely David Mitchell and Robert Webb, I couldn'...

I think it must be age because round about this time of November for the last few years I have begun to have deep empathy with the principles of hibernation. If you told me that I had to go to sleep this evening and wake up sometime in mid-February I don't think I'd be too disappointed. It is not that this time of the year has been particularly empty work wise-in fact the past month or so I've been phenomenally busy.  It's easing off a little now, but there are still a couple of days in the diary. Quite a few social events coming up as well, the agents party, various drinks dos at  the Actors Centre and some home entertaining. We've also just come back from a weekend in Yorkshire for mum's 91st birthday. Cake, flowers, local village Christmas fayre, fish and chip restaurant lunch, and a new microwave for ourselves out of a branch of Comet that was closing down all packed into a 36 hour visit to Rotherham. That is of course "national headline makin...

One of the most boring things I think it's possible to witness is actors talking about acting. How they did it. How painful it was. How emotionally dredging. It drives me nuts. Just get on and do it. In the rehearsal room I've always been of the same mind. Get up there and do something. Then have a discussion about whether it works or not, but just keep trying things out. I know acting is supposed to be an art and  we are artists, but to me acting has always been a trade. A job. That doesn't mean to say it can't be done with the highest level of craftsmanship, but it involves technique. It is an artifice that is used to show truth. "To hold a mirror up to nature" as the great bard himself put it. I think the best jobs have a mystique about them. I have absolutely no comprehension  as to how our plumber makes our boiler work, and this actually this makes me appreciate him even more. The fact that he  went to Eton, is blonde and has got arm muscles as ...

So having updated my DragonDictate to the latest version, I'm anticipating that narrating my blog on this rather damp Sunday lunchtime will be easier than it has been of late. The percentage of accurate recognition by the software is rather brilliant, and the fact that I can sit here with a headset on just talking to my computer and have my words appear on the screen, is a delight for my type talentless fingers. This has been a week off. No work, but something that I was looking forward to with a chance to potter around at home and catch up with a few people.I think my body knew that as well because within 48 hours of my week of leisure starting, I had a runny nose. Within another 24 hours I had a full-blown blocked up  ache inducing  cold. In fact it's my somewhat nasal diction that seems to be the biggest  obstacle of total understanding between my new dictation software and myself.  On these days off I'm rather missing having my book to work on. It w...

So after unplugging my headphones and microphone, and then deciding that none of my dictation programs were working properly, I have purchased the new version of DragonDictate. For quite a while now I've preferred to be able to talk to my computer, rather than struggle with typing on it. I needed it so it's a good investment. And then I looked down and found out that my microphone and headphones were unplugged. The basic  element in trying to make  the programmes work! I would regard myself as technologically savvy. I can usually solve almost all problems that occur on my computer, especially since moving over to Mac five or six years ago.  I'm an Apple junkie. The iPhone 5 is on my Christmas list and I am toying with buying myself a new desktop as mine is now 5 years old and would probably benefit from replacing.  particularly having seen them on the website, like most Apple products, it is a thing of beauty and one that I can't wait to ...