Hello, 2011!

Well, it's now 2011. And I'm looking forward to another year of doing what I do: work, theatre and other forms of amusement, and blogging.

Theatre

Big things on the theatre calendar include the 2011 Fringe festival – while the full details won't be out for another couple of weeks yet¹, some great acts have already indicated they'll be coming to town: Amanda Palmer and The Sound & the Fury being two I'll definitely be seeing; no doubt there'll be others of a similar pedigree – fingers crossed for Theater Simple, The Jane Austen Argument and whoever Guy Masterson finds to bring along – to add to that.

And there's plenty more theatre: The State Theatre Company of South Australia season – which I wrote about here – is something else I'm keenly anticipating. Next week I've got the professional production of West Side Story, and in May I'm seeing probably the most-anticipated musical of the last few years, Wicked.

There are a stack of amateur shows to see as well: Songs for a New World, Scenes from a Separation, Miss Saigon, The Mousetrap, Avenue Q, Othello and Sweeney Todd – and that's just those which have been announced; there are a bunch more still to be confirmed.

As for my direct involvement in theatre, I'm intending to audition for a couple of shows – Blithe Spirit up at Tea Tree Players (with whom I did Suddenly At Home last year) and, even more exciting, the Adelaide Uni Theatre Guild's production of Macbeth; then the plan is to stage manage the Theatre Guild's third – as yet officially unannounced – show for the year.

¹As soon as the guide comes out I'll be writing a post about what I think will be the must-see shows.

Music

I've also got tickets to a few musical acts throughout the year – the amazing Sufjan Stevens is in town in February, Tim Minchin is doing a gig with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra in March (during, but not part of, the Fringe), Belle & Sebastian (who I've wanted to see for years) are here the week after the Fringe finishes, and then a couple of months after that Ben Folds is playing at the Entertainment Centre theatre.

And no doubt there'll be more. Darren Hanlon has already hinted at a tour, which I'll definitely be in for if I'm not otherwise occupied.

Film

Lots of movies coming out this year. A couple are already out but which I haven't yet seen: Tron: Legacy, The King's Speech, Black Swan and True Grit; then there are the 'proper' 2011 releases, top of the list for me being part two of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I'm also keen to see Thor, X-Men: First Class, Cowboys & Aliens, The Wolverine², Sherlock Holmes 2, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo³, Tintin⁴, The Cabin in the Woods⁵ and the remake of Fright Night, almost entirely because it's got David Tennant in it.

²Yeah, I know the first one sucked, but Darren Aronofsky's directing this one, which gives it potential.
³I don't always approve of American remakes of non-American films, but – like Wolverine above – the director makes a difference; David Fincher's on board to helm this.
⁴Some of you will already know this, but others won't; my nickname for many years was Tintin, 'cause someone thought I looked like him – and I can kind of see it. Hence why I'm vaguely disturbed that two of my friends have named their beagle puppy that.
⁵It's Joss Whedon's take on the classic horror flick. How could I not?

Blogging

Obviously, I intend to keep blogging; while I got more consistent this year, I still don't think I was posting anywhere near as often as I should have been. So, I'm going to keep at it and – all things going well – will provide a regular supply of snarky, self-indulgent rambling throughout the year⁶.

⁶Except during the Fringe; I'll almost certainly be way too busy.

Travel

In August I'm hoping to get up to south-east Queensland to visit my family who are spread out between the Sunshine Coast and Hervey Bay. My mother and her husband Graeme were in Adelaide last year, but I haven't see the rest of the clan – my sister Leanne, her husband David and my nephew Dustin; and my brother Jeff and my nieces Lucie and Julia – for quite a few years.

The plan is to fly to Brisbane and drive up from there and stop off to see people along the way; I can then fly back to Adelaide (via Melbourne or Sydney) from the airport in Hervey Bay.

Miscellaneous

I've got a wedding to go to – that of my friends Kellie and Damien – and no doubt a whole bunch of other parties, soirees, shindigs and hootenannies to attend.

Depending on whether or not I get into the plays I intend to audition for, and if I can get myself organised to do so, I'd still like to enrol in a French course with Alliance Francaise, as I've alluded to a couple of times in blog posts past.

I may get myself enthusiastic about the renovating I should have started doing when I first moved in over three years ago, but my biggest problem is that I've got a bunch of things to do – new kitchen, plastering, paint, carpets and landscaping – and no damn idea a) how to do most of it, and b) where the heck to start.

Will be trying to spend more time reading as well – I'm currently about halfway through The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, and have the other two of the Millennium trilogy to read once I'm through with that.

No doubt there'll be more going on – and you can guarantee when there is, I'll be writing about it.