I haven't been posting much recently because a) I've been too busy and b) I've been too busy for anything remotely interesting to happen, which I could write about. I don't like Year 11. There's far too mch work, and I have something on after school practically every day.

To top things off, tomorrow I have a debate. The motion is 'This house would not introduce a National Identity Card'. Now I'm not going to say much about my opponents, since one of them is an avid reader of this blog, but I will say this: you wouldn't want to be debating against them.

I have quite a lot of work to do but I can't be bothered to do any of it. Instead I'll go work on my debate speech, since that is obviously much more important.

Blurgh.
Tallie xxx

Updates at LCA

There are three new reviews at Lights, Camera, Action! (Finally!) So go and have a look. Link is over there. ----> Also, I have updated my links section.

Tonight I'm going to dinner with nine friends for my birthday (yes, I do know if was a week ago. Oh my God, I've been 16 for a week!) It will be very fun.

Oh yeah, remember I told you all how Ema Williams had been hired to play Maria for a certain number of performances each week? Well, since Connie won the part, the producers have decided to let her do six shows a week, and Emma will only do two. BUT, Emma didn't like this idea, and has dropped out! So Connie will now do all eight performances! Yay! So hopefully that will mean I'll definitely see her when I go in December. I can see why Emma dropped out, though. It would be horrible to perform to an audience who doesn't want to see you, who wants to see the person they voted for.

Nothing exciting is going on right now. I'm very boring. Check out the lastest Meg Cabot post, it's hilarious. Link also over there somewhere ---->. I have so much homework to do today. I really should get started on that. I'm writing in very short sentences.

Toodles!

Tallie xxx

The Recent Lack of Posts

Sorry for the recent lack of posts. I have been uber-busy with school, homework, drama, etc. I haven;t even had time to watch any of the three chick flicks that await me to watch (The Girl Next Door, A Guy Thing, and Rumor Has It) or that South Bank Show about Bill Bryson that i have recorded. Pah, to quote Claire. Or meh, to quote Liv. Wow, I have such articulate friends.

Year 11 is bloody hard work. Right now it's almost 9.20pm and I haven't even started any of the five subjects that await me tonight. I really should get cracking.

Due to the aforementioned business, I have no interesting news to report. Hang on, I'm thinking... nope, nothing. Today at drama I had to pretend to be, among other things, a really bad soap opera actress, a fairy godmother, and a fireplace. God, I love acting. At the moment I'm reading this book called Notes on Directing, which is really cool and which I highly recommend. Well, that is, if you're a theatre geek like me.

Anyway, right now at school we have to choose our AS Level options. To most people, this is a very difficult decision as they want to do too many things. I have chosen mine: French, English (language and literature combined course), Theatre Studies and Psychology. I'm almost definite about them, but I'm keeping an open mind. You see, I don't want to do any other subjects apart from those. They're the ones I'm interested in and that's that. I'm looking forward to next year.

Well, better get started on that work thing. Like would be much simpler without homework.

Tallie xxx

I can now play the lottery.... amongst other things!

Wow, I am 16. Weird. I had a great birthday with Liv, Jen and Claire (love you guys!). But anyway, thankyou to the people who left a happy birthday comment.

In much bigger news than my birthday, CONNIE WON! She is going to play Maria! (Until that other girl takes over, but whatever.) I am so happy about that. I knew, from the second ever show (I didn't watch the first), that she was the right person for the role. I'm going to make such a good casting director one day. But boasting aside, I'm so pleased she won! I voted about 10 times last night. And now for my birthday I got two tickets to see The Sound of Music in December! Woo! So hopefully I'll be able to see her in action. Yay!

It's kinda late and I have school tomorrow, but I'm too excited to go to bed. I'll go and watch some OC instead (I have the Season 3 boxset now!).

Caio!

Tallie xxx

Miss Saigon and my birthday

I found this today - http://crimefilenews.blogspot.com/2006/08/my-war-and-miss-saigon.html. You can watch clips from Miss Saigon! (Yes, I know, only I would get excited about that, but whatever.) I recommend you watch the top video, as that is from a gala evening held about 8 years ago to celebrate Cameron Mackintosh. I have that on DVD. The cast is amazing and is basically the Original Cast. The main girl is Lea Salonga who is one of my favourite musical theatre performers ever. She is also on my Les Miserables DVD. Anyway, watch that one rather than the bottom video, which is a different production and, while it includes more songs than the other one, I have serious issues with the casting.

Yeah, I know nobody is going to actually be interested in all that, but I don't care. Nobody's forcing you to read this.

In other news, I'm turing 16 on Sunday! That is quite freaky. I'm slightly annoyed with myself since I opened an envelope that was addressed to me that was lying about. I know, it's stupid to do that two days before your birthday, but the address was typed and stuff, so I figured it wouldn't be a birthday card. I caught a glimpse of what is was before hastily putting it out of sight. I think it is what my parents have been planning, and I'll leave it at that.

Tha Last Kiss opened in America today. I still have to wait like a month before it opens here. Darn it...

Not much else to say really. I should really get on wth some homework, since I don't have much time this weekend. Urgh, I hate schoolwork. Actually I don't, I'm just lazy.

Tallie xxx

9/11

So, today's five years since 9/11. It's a coincidence that 9/11 is the same numbers as 911, the Amercian emergency services number. Weird.

In Drama we have to put together a piece about September 11th. I think it'll be pretty difficult, but very interesting.

A while ago I read Meg Cabot's experiences of 9/11 on her blog, and thought it was interesting. Have a look: http://www.megcabot.com/diary/post.cfm/pid/2297.

It's interesting how when a tragic event like that happens, it really shows the very best in human behaviour, with everyone being so brave and heroic and helping each other. But then, of course, you think of the people who were responsible for the attacks and that just shows you some of the worst of human behaviour. Hmm.

Tallie xxx

Oh, the worry

Aoife shouldn't have left. That was just mean. I am, of course, talking about Maria, the basis of most of my posts these days. There's only one wek left though, so it'll all be over soon.

Anyway, as I was saying, I think Aoife should have stayed. She was my second favourite! I wanted to see her and Connie in the final two, with Connie then winning, of course. I'm slightly (that's a lie. I'm VERY) worried about Siobhan now, who is very popular with the public and might well win. Nooooo! She can't win! She's very talented and I like her a lot but she'd make a perfect Truly Scrumptious, not a Maria! Claire, you've seen Maria now and you've seen Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Wouldn't she make a perfect Truly?

Helena I'm not so worried about, as I'm sure she won't win. But I'll be devastated if Siobhan does when Connie is perfect for the part. So come on people, give me a nice birthday present and vote for Connie on Saturday. Please!

Tallie xxx

The Broadway Kids

I recently discovered a children's theatre company called The Broadway Kids (because this is the kind of thing I'm interested in) made up of kids from lots of different Broadway shows. They do shows and recod CDs and stuff. Anyway, you can listen to some of the songs they've done on their website (www.broadwaykids.com) and they're really good. There's a similar company called West End Kids with (you've guessed it) kids from the West End, but they don't seem to be quite as good, from what I've heard of their singing. I know that has nothing to do with anything, really, it's just what's on my mind right now.

I'm back at school and it's OK, but hard work. Forget easing us back in, I have about five hours of homework to do this weekend. Fun fun.

Oh yeah, check this out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXhH55RMXJo. It's what happens when you mix Harry Potter with The O.C.! Made me laugh, anyway.

I really have nothing else to say that is of any interest whatsoever. And I know Claire will be annoyed with me for mentioning this again, but for those of you who do watch Maria, have a look at the website and read diary entries of the remaining girls. It's quite interesting.

Have a good weekend!

Tallie xxx

100 Things About Me

Once again I am going to rip off Livvie's ideas and use them in my own blog, so here is a list of 100 things that you may (or may not) already know about me.

1. I have an obsessive personality. If I like something, I really like it and get practically obsessed with it. This amounts to me knowing an incredible amount about certain subjects and nothing at all about other stuff.
2. I love Chinese and Italian food (not together. Although that might be interesting.).
3. I'm not paranoid about anything and I don't really have a big fear of anything, except my parents dying, or being buried alive.
4. My dress sense is best described as preppy.
5. I watch entirely too much TV, but I don't watch lots of different shows, I just watch a lot of certain shows, if that makes sense.
6. Perhaps I watch too many movies, but I don't think you can watch too many movies.
7. I like most styles of music, but I do not like R&B/hip hop stuff, dance music (shudder), opera (you can't even hear what they're singing!) or really heavy rock/metal stuff.
8. I have a fetish for both stationary and pyjamas.
9. I am possibly the only person on the planet who likes school uniforms.
10. I love cheap clothing, like the kind you get from supermarkets.
11. Like most teenage girls, I do not like my figure.
12. I am pretty lazy and I have zero self-discipline.
13. I am a romantic, although most people wouldn't know it.
14. (WTF? I'm only on number 14? How can that be?) I don't make full use of my rather nice mobile's rather flashy features.
15. I absolutely adore everything (that I can think of anyway) to do with theatre.
16. I get entirely overexcited when watching movie awards ceremonies.
17. I am going to work at an American summer camp when I'm older. That is a firm resolution.
18. Two of my favourite cities in the world (that I've been to) are Venice and New York.
19. I don't want to live in England when I'm older.
20. Unlike most people (including my mother) I love the winter, when days are cold and it gets dark really early and all that kind of stuff. Slightly strange I know.
21. Even though I'm kind of known amongst my friends as a film buff, I actually prefer theatre in general (if I had to choose between them).
22. I always wished I had a sister, but never got one.
23. I love working with children. My ideal job would combine working with children and theatre, like a youth theatre director or a children's casting director.
24. I always have quite a lot of money, due to me being quite a popular babysitter, partly due to the fact I am at home most Saturday nights. Sad but true.
25. I am incredibly lucky to have the friends that I do, and
26. I vastly prefer the friendships I have now to the ones I had in primary school (but most people would probably say that).
27. There are several things about me I would never tell anyone. Ever!
28. I don't really get celebrity crushes, with a few exceptions (see a couple of posts below).
29. I believe every good movie should have a montage in.
30. I tend to take on the opinions of the people around me, people who are more strongly opinionated than I am.
31. Even though I'm not great at acting, I'm pretty good at public speaking.
32. I don't care that I'm not great at acting, because I love it anyway.
33. I love it when my room is tidy, but it rarely ever is.
34. I am incredibly picky about spelling and grammar.
35. There are very few people I know who I don't like.
36. I really like the age I am now, although I'm looking forward to stuff that's to come.
37. I really like my school. I don't care if I'm a dork for saying that.
38. I type really rather quickly, although I only use my two forefingers.
39. I also have a fetish for names. Strange but true.
40. My interests are kind of the same as other people in my family. Probably partly DNA and stuff, and partly how I was brought up.
41. I have a rather posh, typically English accent.
42. I don't mind my voice but wish it was just slightly less posh.
43. I look bad in pretty much every single photo taken of me.
44. I memorise things like song lyrics, lines in a play, poetry, etc. very quickly, but
45. This memory does not serve me quite so well for remembering important facts for, say, biology exams.
46. Sometimes I think I was born middle-aged.
47. I love singing along to musicals possibly more than anything else in the world.
48. I used to tan really easily, now I just burn.
49. I am rather cynical about my generation and the British public in general.
50. I love photography, although I don't know much about the technical side of it.
51. I think it is unbelievable that I am only just half way through this and Livvie was right when she said it's much harder than it seems.
52. I have a tendency to show off sometimes.
53. I have extremely good relationships with both my parents.
54. I know pretty much everything there is to know about American geography, The O.C., certain musicals, and summer camps.
55. I spend way too much time on the computer.
56. I'm quite sarcastic.
57. I work well in a team but I tend to boss people around too much.
58. I have gotten much less stubborn and bossy as I have gotten older.
59. I'm not sure those two 'gottens' in that last point were used correctly.
60. Sometimes I use American phrases and stuff without thinking.
61. This is probably due to reading too many American books and watching too many American movies/TV shows.
62. None of the shows I watch regularly (apart from Maria, which is just for a little while) are English. All of them are American, further backing up my last point.
63. I really like debating but find it rather scary.
64. I've just noticed that I've used the words 'rather' and 'incredibly' quite a few times in this post.
65. I detest chemistry with a passion.
66. I should pay way more attention in lessons this year.
67. I'm pretty laid back most of the time.
68. I get excited about stuff like fonts and screensavers. Yeah, I'm kind of a geek.
69. I'm not very observant.
70. I rarely get headaches but often get stomach aches.
71. I like attention but get embarrassed by it.
72. If I'm ever talking about someone while walking between lessons at school, it is a guaranteed fact that they will be right behind me, hearing everything I'm saying. Well, it serves me right.
73. I don't worry about stuff nearly as much as I used to.
74. I really like going to London, especially when the visit involves a trip to the theatre, hehe.
75. I also really like flying on my own, possibly more than flying with my mum (but don't tell her!).
76. I tend to leave homework (especially essays) until the last minute.
77. This is something I should try to change.
78. I'm not afraid of heights.
79. My hair annoys me.
80. I should be more open-minded.
81. I'm kind of hungry right now.
82. I'm getting really desperate in what I'm saying here now.
83. Nothing irritates me more than when technology doesn't work.
84. I love travelling and I plan to do a lot more in the future.
85. I can't believe I'm going back to school the day after tomorrow.
86. I don't think that was very interesting. We're really scraping the bottom of the barrel here.
87. I used to love dancing and I'm not bad at it but
88. I never dance nowadays, even alone.
89. I hate having my photo taken but I love taking pictures of other people.
90. I'm kind of fussy about food, but I'm getting better.
91. Music is a lot more important to me than people might think.
92. I'm disappointed that my parents never forced me to continue playing instruments as it would be nice to play something well.
93. I'm surprisingly flexible.
94. I'm very happy that we're almost done here.
95. I'm going to turn 16 in exactly two weeks.
96. I don't really know what I;m going to do yet.
97. I'm also slightly freaked out about turning 16. Why do I have to be the first of my friends?
98. My dinner is ready so I need to be quick here.
99. I'm kind of allergic to prawns, and I don't wnat to take my chances with other types of seafood. Anyway,
100. I'm not too keen on fish.

Woohoo! God, that was hard. Well done to anyone who actually read all that. Well, I'm hungry. Gotta go!

Tallie xxx

Scandal!

OK, my chemistry coursework can wait, this is important. My mum read in one of the Sunday papers that Emma Williams, who played Truly Scrumptious in the original West End production of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, had already signed a contract with Andrew Lloyd Webber to play Maria for a year, in The Sound of Music! Durn durn DURN! Now that may or may not be true, but if it is, the whole Maria programme is just a publicity stunt (OK, that's actually quite likely) and the winner won't play Maria. Or maybe she'l just do the opening night, and then Emma Williams will take over. So, what do you think of that, loyal blog readers? Opinions, please!

LATER: OK, I found this on the subject. Check it out:

'Today's Sunday Mirror confirms that Andrew Lloyd Webber has already solved his problem of Maria by hiring Emma Williams on a twelve month contract.
The BBC is still publishing misleading information about its show. Its own website says today "But in a twist, rather than pick their new leading lady themselves, they've decided to let you, the viewer, decide."
Obviously not. Andrew Lloyd Webber has already chosen Emma Williams as his leading lady although he will presumably still continue to find another Maria on the BBC show.
Emma Williams is an award-winning actress and is already a star of the London stage having taken the lead as Truly Scrumptious in the musical Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.
The winner of How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria? will only be awarded a six month contract.
A theatre insider said: "It is obvious Emma is being lined up to do the bulk of the shows.
"While the TV contest winner will guarantee ticket sales, Emma will bring the real professionalism.
"For an untrained or inexperienced singer to take on even three or four shows a week would be totally beyond their ability and Maria is a demanding role."
In a statement today Andrew Lloyd Webber said that "it had always been made clear" that an "alternate Maria" would be hired to perform "two shows a week" in The Sound of Music. However, this is the first time any statement about the "alternate Maria" had been published by either Andrew Lloyd Webber or the BBC.'

Interesting, huh? So the TV Maria will only play three or four performances a week for the first 6 months, the rest of the time Emma Williams will play the role. It's quite mean of ALW and the BBC to trick viewers into thinking otherwise. Oh well. I don't mind.

Tallie xxx