Archive for March 2012
The rest is noise.
Posted March 12, 2012
on:1This is so very true, I am so glad that such an experienced entertainer has written this blog.
Diane's Puppets kids party heaven
The biggest enemy I face at parties is NOISE.
Have you ever considered the impact of acoustics when choosing where to have your party and how many people you intend to invite?
If you intend to have your party at a large venue, ie a church hall, do take into consideration the impact of the echoing acoustics because of the high ceilings and uncarpeted floors. The smallest noise is magnified and bounces around the cavernous space. Small children can and do get very intimidated by the high noise levels of a large church hall. It only takes one child scraping a chair across the floor to fill the space with cacophony. Remember as well that children fill whatever space they get, so give them a huge space and they will use it by running around, chasing and sliding. Space is exciting and begs to be taken advantage of. Entertainers often…
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Posted March 7, 2012
on:Gliese 581g is located in its star’s “Goldilocks zone” – a zone in space where temperatures are neither too hot nor too cold for liquid water.
I really like it when scientists make the explanations their findings easier to understand for us mere mortals with an average IQ. Of course I am referring to the finding of Gilese 581G, a planet found in the ‘Goldilocks’ zone.
It is a very clear and understandable description but I would be wary of packing my rucksack and boarding a flight to the planet because you know what happened to Goldilocks! Imagine a large colony of Earthlings settling down to sleep in the most comfortable beds available snoring in contentment when they are woken up by the original big burly inhabitants of the planet.
The Three Bears were not very pleased that Goldilocks broke into their property, broke their furniture, contaminated and ate their food and to top it all tried their beds for size before settling for Baby Bear’s bed. What if there were other life forms already on the planet who didn’t want squatters thank you very much! If the planet does have the perfect conditions for life, it is highly likely that life already exits there.
Here is a picture from the BBC site showing an artist’s impression of the planet and its parent star.
Also who would be in charge of the planet – I think it would be the Downing Street cat – I saw it being let into Ten Downing Street last night during a news report by the BBC. I can’t remember what the report was about but I will never forget the cat. Talking about cats and physics could lead us to a discussion about Schrödinger’s cat, but at this moment in time I don’t quite understand the theory yet but I won’t try the experiment as I don’t want to kill my cat Poppy.
Gliese 581g is located in…
What A Performance!!
Posted March 5, 2012
on:When I used to watch the credits of children’s programmes I was always surprised at the number of people involved in enabling a twenty minute production to take place. After writing and producing my own puppet shows I realise exactly why so many people are involved.
You would expect a twenty five minute puppet show to take twenty five minutes to organise, but no that is not the case for me. In order for puppet shows to be written, rehearsed, tweaked and be ready to be shared with an audience it takes me just over a year.
- This is partially due to time restrictions – I have to spend time with my own child and nurture and teach him bad habits and all of that.
- Secondly the show has to be written as a story first to give the whole idea structure.
- Thirdly the story has to be adapted to be a script – all of my scripts are written with just two characters speaking at one time because I only have two hands.
- Fourthly I have to read through the script to improve its comfort level.
- Next I have to produce the accompanying sound track so that the performance has sounds, music and remains tight.
- Then I have to alter the script to fit in with puppet changes.
- A number of rehearsals take place.
- I dream about the show for weeks and practise in my sleep.
- Details of the puppet show is put on the website and on leaflets.
- After every performance the script and show is reviewed and improved for next time.
I also have to make sure that my hands don’t get too hot during a performance because it makes it more difficult to put the puppets on quickly. I write a script so that I can ad-lib and alter the show to suit the audiences needs. Every performance is different and requires unique rehearsing – if the show is for a boy’s party I tend to focus on the insects and monsters and focus on the princess and fairy for a girl’s show. You only have to attend a party where the children are dressed up – the girls are dressed in pink and sequins while the boys tend to wear costumes of many different colours. Most girls dream of being a princess while boys want to be super heroes.
And being chief, cook and bottle-washer in Acepuppets the only name on the credits is mine – and boy the satisfaction and credit of a successful performance is completely down to me and I thoroughly enjoy claiming all of the credit for my work!!