New Experiences #21 - #24
W/C 12th March 2012
New Experience #21: A Surprise Party!
Monday Night, before going to see The Milk. Surprise party for my now 18-year-old mate. Couldn’t find right house. Found right house. Waited for him to come. Heard footsteps on the drive. Huge hush. Door opened. Huge yell. He is baffled, overwhelmed, embarrassed. Happy Birthday sung. All very jolly. Give small gift and big hug. Leave for The Milk.
Rating: 3/5 Very exciting and all that but it was far too brief due to my review commitment (although luckily the gig was great). I sincerely hope no one throws me a surprise party anytime soon as I’d probably be taken in for extreme shock (and my birthday isn’t until October so it’s be somewhat premature).
New Experience #22: A Welsh Musical
My previous theatrical experience yn Gymraeg (#10) was rather disappointing but my Wednesday night was lit up by Olifyr at Ysgol Gyfun Plasmawr. Despite only fully understanding snatches of the dialogue, the quality of the performance was so high that the language barrier was stepped over. It of course helped that I’d seen Lionel Bart’s classic show in English before and watching it in another language reminded me how brilliant his song writing was.
Rating: 4/5 I enjoyed every moment and would have happily had some ‘mwy’ A big da iawn to all involved!
New Experience # 23: A Public Lecture
On a pleasant Thursday eve, I went along to Cardiff Law School to attend a free public lecture all about striking the balance between human rights and the media intrusion. The speaker was the Right Honourable Lady Justice Arden, who was the first woman to be appointed to the High Court, and she spoke for an hour on the contribution of human rights into solving the problems of press intrusion into private life. The importance of a free press that contributes to a debate in the public interest was clearly stressed, but she made it clear that being able to judge whether something is in the public interest or not is a major barrier in regulating journalists' activities.
The conclusion reached was that the EU policy, of regulating the media’s methods of obtaining information as oppose to regulating the information itself, was a good way to start and that an independent press regulatory body needs to be set up. This is of course a very topical subject and as someone who would like to work in the media in the future it was thought provoking and even enjoyable.
Rating: 4/5 It wasn’t as boring as it sounds and I recommend keeping your eyes on the Cardiff University website if you’re an inquisitive kind of a person.
New Experience # 24: Audience Member Of A Live Radio Broadcast
Now this was a real treat. Poetry Please is a regular show on BBC Radio 4 in which Roger McGough presents listeners’ favourite poems, with special guest readers. As part of the station’s More Than Words Festival, which celebrates the art of listening, there was a live performance of the show from the beautiful St. George’s in Bristol. I applied for free tickets to be in the audience and was successful, so with best friend in tow we headed over the bridge for an afternoon of poetry.
It was the sheer variety of poetry packed in to the half-hour show and the readers’ distinctly different voices that made it an afternoon of listening to remember. We enjoyed some audience participation in McGough’s brilliant The Sound Collector and heard The Listeners by Walter De La Mare, one of my favourite poems. As you’d expect with the Beeb, everything was very well organised at the venue and the show ran very smoothly.
Rating: 5/5 I left inspired to write more poetry and to read more poetry, but also to really listen to the everyday sounds that we take for granted.
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