Things kicked off on Friday night with Florence + The Machine at the Enmore Theatre with Lizzie. It was so, so fabulous. It's no wonder everyone is a little in love with Florence Welch, she's utterly captivating. Her hair definitely wins the Best Support award. I was very impressed with the light show as well, beautifully done and perfectly balanced. I loved the entire performance, it was just stunning overall though I was then doomed to spend the rest of the weekend unable to get 'Cosmic Love' out of my head. Worse things have happened.
I didn't love the drive home afterwards as much and I got stuck in King Street for half an hour just trying to get out of Newtown. I finally managed to get home just after midnight and didn't get nearly enough sleep for the madness of Saturday. I packed the day waaaaay too full. I was up at 6.30 on Saturday and met R in Newtown for a birthday breakfast. Em and I then spent some time in the QVB before I had to dash down to the IMAX where I watched Inception again with a uni friend. It's still brilliant and Joseph Gordon-Levitt still needs to be kidnapped. I'm disappointed it wasn't out when I was doing Critical Writing because I've realised it has unlimited essay potential. There's just so much you can tap into.
After coffee and a chat, I had to rush back home to meet Lizzie before heading back into the city again for the Neil Gaiman reading at the Opera House. I can't even begin to express how phenomenal this was. Neil read his short story The Truth is a Cave in the Black Mountains, available in the volume Stories which he edited, for what he concedes is probably the first and last time. The ninety minute reading was scored by a string quartet and featured a projection of 35 illustrations by Eddie Campbell. It was a completely immersing experience, and I am so glad I got to witness it. It has to be said that Neil has such a fantastic voice, I wish I could just have him around to narrate every day life. Sadly, the logistics of doing a signing at the Opera House was just too great but Neil had signed 2000 books (one for each member of the sold-out crowd) that could be purchased. After some major line!fail from the people who ran the operation, Lizzie and I managed to secure signed copies of our liking - Neverwhere and Preludes & Nocturnes in my case. No idea when I'll get around to reading them, but hey. I think it's fair to say some hero-worship may be developing on my part.
Up again at 8 the next morning, far too early for my sleep-deprived liking, I had a couple of hours to attempt getting through my uni readings before another trek into the city was called for at 2 - this time for the 'Evolution of an Idea' panel at the Opera House Studio featuring Neil, Eddie Campbell and Shaun Tan. I might point out that the entire weekend is part of the inaugural Graphic festival organised by the Opera House hosted to celebrate visual story-telling. Kevin Smith is also in attendance, he introduced Neil on Saturday and I believe there are still tickets to his show available for this evening. Any old who, the panel was mostly concerned with how ideas develop and evolve during the creation and collaboration process, and there were some interesting points raised. The entire thing was recorded, and will probably be available online soon-ish for any interested parties.
I returned back home around 5 and struggled on with the uni work - with dubious success I might add. The only thing I want to do today is sleep. I'm feeling pretty crappy and this combined with the tiredness has put me in a less-than-friendly mood. I'm also freezing, and have yet to remove my scarf or jacket since getting in this morning. This combined with the sore throat and sniffles suggests that I may possibly have picked up some bug along the way. Busy as I am, this does not bode well.
I've got so much work to get through this week, I'm not quite sure how I'm going to manage. Then there's uni work as well, dear lord. I don't even have a full exercise for tonight's class - errr yeah. I just look forward to re-uniting with my bed at some point before 11 tonight.
Think happy thoughts people, think happy thoughts.
Music: Dog days are over - Florence + The Machine
Mood: Annoyed
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