Friday, 17 June 2011

Tarzan

Being back at work for a few days has made me realize that I'm not necessarily going to be able to blog quite as much as I wanted. Its going be a bit of 'it happens when it happens". I have some time today, so I'm making the most of it. Here goes!!!....

I Started back at work on Tuesday evening and was so excited to do the show again! (I should probably fill you all in).

I work in Hamburg as a dancer in the Disney show Tarzan.


The show is based on the animated movie with music by Phil Collins.  I've been doing the show in Hamburg for about 18 months now and am loving it!!! I'm really so proud to be part of this show and be working with such talented people. Here's a little promotional clip for the show.



For the majority of the show I play a gorilla :-) but also get to be a leopard, a dancing fern and when I first started the show I also played a moth.  The show has a very contemporary/African feel to it. This comes through in the dance styles but also the design of the set and the costumes:

Me as the Moth

As Gorilla

It was a little tuff getting back into the show after having two weeks off. I have to be honest my muscles are pretty sore today from working them all once again! The pain will go in a few days though and I'll be back to normal.

We have also been rehearsing lots this week, the Disney creative team are here from Broadway. They are here on one of many routine trips to Hamburg to look at the show, making sure it is all up to scratch. This adds an element of tension in the theatre as everybody obviously wants to put there best foot forward and make a good impression. This has been another factor in jump starting my body out of vacation mode :-)
I'm getting back on track slowly but surely! 

I haven't had too much time for anything else this week. I haven't worked on any projects in a few days! Although I'm hoping to go and get some new felt tip pens and start working on some new pictures.
Dennis bought us a new sewing machine earlier in the week!  That is definitely going to open up a many more possibilities in terms of creative lovelyness. I can't wait to try it out!!!

I hope you enjoy the little glimpse I have given you into my work and I promise to share more with you very soon.
I must run off to rehearsals! Will speak soon :-)
Until then enjoy the sunny weather!!!!

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It Gets Better!

Just wanted to share the new Google Chrome advert.
The "It Gets Better" project is such an amazing campaign spreading such an important message.
For a company as big as Google to team up with this project can only lead to great and positive changes. Have a watch and see what I mean :-)




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Monday, 13 June 2011

Cupcakes

Today was my last day off before I go back to work tomorrow, the prospect of working is quite exciting me!
I've had the best two weeks off, not rushing around and doing what ever I want with no time restrictions. I've been eating lots of yummy food so working out also needs to start again tomorrow!

Its been such a joy spending so much time with Dennis before he leaves on his next cruise ship contract at the end of the week. We have done so many nice things together but I've especially loved our time at home working on separate projects always in full conversation with each other.


Two nights ago I tried making my first crocheted Amagurumi strawberry. It was so fast and easy to make that since then I've been hooked on making food. Not sure what I'm going to do with all of this inedible food? At least it has been a lot of fun to make. It also looks pretty cool, if I do say so myself :-)


Today was another very breezy day. Once again full of lots of yummy things, Including all of the little things I made.

The first being a little slice of chocolate pie. I found the pattern on Ravelry and thought i'd give it ago, It was surprisingly simple although it looks harder than it actually is.
I even placed it on a plate with a fork as if I was going to eat it. Good job I didn't,  I'm thinking this would give you major fur ball!


Next out of the oven came a little Bakewell Tart. I was really pleased with how this turned out and especially enjoyed taking pictures of it with Instagram on my ipad.


Made with the same pattern, I gave a little Cherry pie a try. I adapted the topping with a little bit of hooky improv.


Finally the one I'm most proud of, my little Jammy dodger. I used to love these when I was smaller. I'm still quite partial to them now :-)
I made this pattern up myself and was sooooo happy with how it turned out. I may even give it another go sometime soon and give writing out the pattern a try. 

 
After making all of this delicious looking cakes I had to end the day off with a little something sweet. 

We have this very cute little Cupcake store just behind our apartment. You pick the type of cake you want and they fill it and frost them whilst you wait. They even have a delivery service where they deliver your cupcake order in their little cupcake van.


The cakes are very sweet, you can barely eat a whole one. But they are so nice as a gift or as a little treat once in a while. 
I chose a chocolate filled Oreo cupcake with chocolate frosting! DELICIOUS!


Such a nice way to end my break from work :-) :-) :-):-) :-) :-):-) :-) :-):-) :-) :-):-) :-) :-):-) :-) :-):-) :-)


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A Gay Girl In Damascus

Something has been on my mind a lot over the past few days, that is the fate of Amina Arraf.
Amina Arraf is the author of the blog "A Gay Girl in Damascus". An out half American gay girl living in Syria. Her blog has had a huge response by the media due to her frank opinion on civil rights issues in Syria.

Earlier this week Amina's cousin posted on her blog revealing that she had been captured and that family, along with the thousands of blog followers were very worried and concerned.


Now I'm not going to pretend that I am a wealth of knowledge when it comes to political issues. It couldn't be further from the truth.  I am however, always touched to hear of someone that speaks out for human rights and their beliefs.


Media attention had been going crazy over the past few days. Especially as it came to light that the pictures she posted on her blog were not of herself, but were taken from somebody else's Facebook page.
News pages also reported that nobody has ever spoken in person  to Amina and that there are no official records of her. The media were questioning if the blog was purely fictional?


Even if it was fictional it made me realise how privileged I am to be living in a part of the world where I can be myself and express myself the way I choose to.

I knew that today I wanted to mention this on my blog, it had really been swimming around in my head.
I went to her blog page to read once again.
There was a new post this time by Tom MacMaster from Istanbul. Tom was revealing that the whole blog was in fact written by him and that he had written the blog to highlight issues that were happening in the Middle East.

Tom MacMaster has catapulted these issues to the western world and has made issues like this seem much more relevant to me and many others. Something he intended to do.

I had a sense of relief knowing that Amina was not real, knowing that she was not in harms way. It did make me realise that there are people that I can't put a face to, living this story. Something that I think we should all be aware of. It's definitely an issue that I am going to make more of an effort to understand.

Read Aminas blog at A Gay Girl in Damascus

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Friday, 10 June 2011

Total Eclipse

Drinking my cup of coffee this morning I remembered that I had a packet of Jaffa Cakes sat on my kitchen shelf,  just waiting to be eaten. I couldn't help but eat them without recreating the Jaffa Cakes advert that used to be on television when I was younger.



I thought it was so funny shoving a cake in my mouth then exclaiming "TOTAL ECLIPSE' with my mouth totally full. I even made my own little picture with my Jaffa Cakes :-)



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Happy Hooking

Last year on a cold October evening, I was sat at home with Dennis. He was once again working on one of his many crochet projects.

Dennis had been crocheting for only about one year but was already very good. I asked him to show me how to do it as I wanted to try my hand at making something. He was very patient with me and guided me through making my first little crochet flower.
I'd like to make out that it was as simple and plain sailing as that.....but it wasn't.

I have to be honest, I had a big tendency of throwing tantrums. I would get so annoyed each time I couldn't figure out which hole I needed to crochet in. My project often ended up too tight or too loose and sometimes I would be left with gaps where I had skipped a stitch. Dennis helped me figure this out and would reassure me that I would get the hang of it if I persevered with it.

I kept trying and finally started my first little project, a little blue and grey crochet bag. Ironically I threw that in the rubbish bin today as we sorted out our craft box, It never really amounted to anything. It was a very good practise and a great starting point for my first big project, a granny square blanket based on the pattern by Lucy at Attic24.

Here it is below with a few of my other projects :-)

  
 
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Thursday, 9 June 2011

Sunny Pictures



I have made many of these felt tip pen pictures. Something that I love to do. I always try and make them as bright and as sunny as possible. This one is my favourite.



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Week off from work

This week I have been on vacation from work. It's been one of the first times I have had a break from work without having planned something to do.

Being from Malmesbury, England and living in Hamburg, Germany I would normally take the opportunity to go back to the UK and visit with friends and family. 
Not this time. This time I have had an extremely lazy week of sleeping in, over eating and working on my hobbies without a care in the world. AAAH BLISS!!! 



Now one of the things you need to know about me is that when I have free time on my hands i MUST fill it with something to do. 

Normally this comes down to having a little project to occupy me at home. 
Do you see where I'm going with this? Yep, I'm going to share my projects with you....

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Welcome to "according to Matt...."

Hey Guys,
Welcome to my first ever blog entry! 
First things first...You're all going to have to bear with me as I've really not done this before. I'm not so sure where to start or really where I'm heading with this blog. 

All I know is that this is going to be a creative place where I can share my love of arts, crafts, music and dance. 

A place where I can give you a glimpse into my world. A world according to me....


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