So, this blog has gone a little quiet for a month or so. What have I been up to?
The chief suspect is Pirates of the Burning Sea. I got quite heavily into it, running the forum for my Nation, and currently chairing the Council of guilds. My addiction seems to be waning though, so we might see a bit more posting here in the future.
Far more importantly, I was lucky enough to get the chance to do a week of work experience in the newsroom of Radio Broadland. It was a massive learning experience for me, and the folks I was working with were wonderful.
Even better, they hired me the next week to do some filming and film-editing for their website. Nikki Fox and myself travelled down to Wembley with Lowestoft FC in preparation for their FA Vase final on the 11th of May. Neither of us had ever done anything like this before, so I think the results turned out quite well, especially considering the only video editor we had was Moviemaker! If you look really carefully, you can see my head reflected on the side of the coach, and yes, that is me waxing lyrical about the joys of bacon.
Not got any more work coming up there currently, but I’m hoping they’ll get desperate enough to call me eventually. I’m missing the place like crazy.
I just handed back the keys to my old flat to the council. After a week of cleaning up the detritus of 5 years of not being terribly tidy, I am overjoyed to see the back of it.
In the time I lived there I had to cope with crack-dealers and prostitutes using my stairwell as a meeting point, and constant screaming and yelling outside my flat. There were mysterious fires, including arson attempts on the chap who lived in the flat downstairs from me. There was also the famous time when someone took an almost impossibly large dump at the bottom of my stairs. Goodbye Magdalen Close. Ain’t missing you at all! I’m amazed I got away from you without being stabbed, shot, or burned alive.
Back in Christmastime 2006, East Anglia was terrorised by a serial killer. Not something that’s supposed to happen in our quiet little bit of the country. His final tally was 5 Ipswich prostitutes. Due to his choice of victims he was known as the Suffolk Ripper, though in fact the Suffolk Strangler would be a far more appropriate title for him, and I shall use that term. While all the crimes took place in Suffolk, the fear definitely spread the few miles north to Norwich. In early December it seemed that every day there was a new grisly discovery, or turn in the investigation.
The killings were spread over November and early December 2006, at an unusually high rate of activity for serial killings. They stopped when Steve Wright was arrested on the 21st of December, but at that point the case could no longer be reported, so as to not prejudice his trial. As a result we don’t actually know very much about what went on, or why the police think Steve Wright is responsible.
Steve Wright’s trial begins today with jury selection, and many of our questions will be answered. He has plead “Not Guilty”.
May this coming year bring you everything you need, and even some of the things you want. May you not want for food, or water, or warmth. May you keep or find friendship, and love. May you and your loved ones stay safe from the shadows that surround us. May you know peace enough to hear the quiet voices.
For me, I’m hoping that this is the year I get my life back on track after something of a hiatus. If everything goes to plan (and we all know how often that happens!!!) I’ll sort my health out, and make some progress towards getting a little more voice/acting work.
Recording should begin shortly for season one of the “radio play” Jack Steel and the Starblade, in which I am fortunate enough to be playing Squadron Leader Steel himself. Fear not, gentle reader, for I shall most certainly be making it available for listening to upon this very site. If the universe is willing, perhaps it’ll lead to something else for myself, the writers, and all of our highly talented cast of unknowns.
My father returned home yesterday after what was, for me at any rate, an extremely enjoyable visit. He is really the only family I have left, and if I can do something this year to make him proud I’ll consider it a year well spent. Anyways, I’ll have a lot more time now for regular posting, so we should see things get back on track here.
So, let us go forth into 2008, and see what it has in store for us.
Yes, I know I post this clip every year, but for me nothing says Christmas like Skeletor. The He-man Christmas special is the epitome of everything a cartoon Christmas special should be about.
How’s the holidays going for everyone out there? I have my Dad down to visit for a few days, and he’s keeping me pretty busy! It’s the first time I’ve ever hosted anyone over the Christmas break, and it does feel rather odd, indeed. I’ll have to cook Christmas dinner, instead of having my customary nap! Another one of those rites of passage that I hear so much about, I guess.
I have returned from my oil rig adventures. In truth, it took place at a Holiday Inn near Norwich airport. I have little to say about it, as sadly they were most keen on confidentiality, so I wasn’t able to take any pictures, and I had best not name the companies involved either. It felt like I was pretty much the only person there taking the damn thing seriously, apart from the organisers. My fellow evacuees were mostly random lads having a laugh, and the folks supposed to be tending to our recently blown up nerves were far more interested in the buffet. A buffet, I might add, that was poor in choice, flavour, and quantity. Bah. I shall never set foot on their doomed oil platform. Let us make up for the lack of pictures with this shot of Elm Hill, which I walked up on my way there.
Any journey that leads me up Elm Hill is a worthwhile one. There is a tree, about halfway up, with an ancient circular wooden bench surrounding it. It feels like it has been there forever, and I like to sit there and read my old books, forgetting the 21st century completely. Bit cold for that at the moment though.
Frustratingly, on Monday morning I received a phone call from a local radio company, offering me a week of work experience starting right there and then. As I had already contracted to the roleplay job I had to turn them down, though we did schedule me a week in April. As usual, my timing absolutely sucks. Working for Broadland Radio (Norwich’s local radio station) in the week leading up to Christmas would have been awesome :( My Remploy contact had arranged things with them months ago, but forgotten to tell me, as the Wavelength Films gig drove it from his mind. Fair enough, as Wavelength did do me an awful lot of good. I have no pictures of that either though, so I shall compensate you with this iron pig I met on Elm Hill. I hope with all my heart that it is made of pig-iron, though I suspect even in this shall I be frustrated today.
Hi, I’m Arkenor Oakshadow.
You may know me from such quality productions as Oil Rig Disaster, and Oil Rig Disaster II.
Yes indeedy! Next week, for two days only, I shall be playing the part of the moaning injured bloke in a safety scenario being run for oil rig workers. It’s minimum wage, but it IS acting! More importantly, I get lunch free!!! I hope it turns out well, and they keep me on their files.
We’ll be running through a variety of disaster scenarios. I have informed them that I do a particularly good zombie, should that be needed. I, for one, would not feel safe on board an oil rig that was not adequately prepared for zombie infestations and bodysnatching blobs.
I’ll see if they let me take a few snaps on the day, and will report how it goes.
I’ve more or less successfully moved in now, though I shall still be unpacking in January, I fear. It was mostly adventure free, apart from the following:
I discovered that my washing machine won’t actually fit in the space provided. I did not realise my washing machine was such an oversized freak. I hate laundrettes, (or laundromats, to my US friends), so I need to solve this quandary fast!
I discovered, when moving it, that my futon had gone horribly mouldy underneath. My own damn fault for leaving it in one place for 5 years, but I don’t much fancy sleeping on it any more. Thank goodness for the sofabed that I inherited from Frank.
But who care? I’ve got a house!
Hmm, I wonder which of these boxes has my food in.
