Comedy, Gigs and other stuff.

It’s been a while between posts and life’s been ticking over, with the comedy festival, the end of the West Wing, a couple of gigs, and a hit of tennis squeezed in between.

I managed to make it to 4 shows at the comedy festival, and the aura and general hubbub of the city was a sight to see, as masses of people spilled onto the city streets surrounding the town hall. 3 of the shows were of Justin Hamilton, where I must stress that they were separate parts to one long story, rather than an awkward stalking episode. He has a knack of telling a story, and while there were some flat spots, he has to be applauded for tackling what must have been some sensitive personal tales. A near suicide attempt, an unexpected death of a loved one, and timely words from the innocence of a younger self, courtesy of a time capsule letter were some of the main areas that stood out. Despite these rather serious, non-comedic stories, -which made one uncomfortable at times- the shows were littered with well timed reflective tales, which were entirely relatable.

Lawrence Mooney completed the festival, and it was good to end on something entirely low-brow, requiring little thought or intellect to digest. A couple of the predominately middle aged punters certainly enjoyed the show to the point of feet tapping and throwing their heads backwards, not unlike Eddie Murphy in the Nutty Professor. Unfortunately due to a number of scheduling problems and sold out events, there were a myriad of shows that I missed out on.

With the end of the West Wing’s on Saturday nights, I’ll have to get off the couch and do something on Saturday nights now. The last episodes did seem to drag out and no doubt writers were thrown by the real life death of one of the main characters. Having said that, the behind the scenes view of the presidential race will increase my interest in both foreign and local politics. As I write this, I notice that the 6^th season is now available on dvd. Dammit!

Dan Kelly, Wilco, Dave Matthews Band and Something For Kate were slotted in during this posting hiatus and it was quite an thrill being in the second row for Wilco and experiencing my first stadium gig with DMB. Nels Cline certainly stole the show at the Wilco show, with a brilliant guitar performance and being that close I was able to appreciate the subtle changes in sound. The work and timing required with the various pedals and tremolo arm?? was a sight to be seen. The next few months are empty with only The Shins on the cards at the moment.

I’ve been running since around August last year and noticed that the annual ‘Run to the G’ is in 6 weeks. The comprehensive training guide in the paper a weekend ago has given some incentive to compete in the event, although the schedule of 5 training sessions a week seems more likely to kill any enthusiasm sooner rather than later. I walked around the office last week, testing interest and thankfully a consensus seems more likely to be for the 5km circuit rather than the 10km or ½ marathon (yeah right). I managed to make it around and complete 4.5kms Thursday, but I think there may be some requirement for me to run around with a portable defibrillator as my heart rate hit a max of 184 which is a little too close to the general max of 193 (220-age).

I was directed to this neat little pedometer here, which is handy as you can map out any circuit you run/walk/cycle by marking them on the map or just to have snoop at your neighbour’s backyard. Where does Google come up with these ideas???