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GARDEN | The Month Of Love For The Garden
Valentine’s day has come and gone so now it’s worth investing a bit of love outside this month for a long-term relationship with your garden.
Fill the house – Windowsills are a great place to get things going. Seeds are unlikely to germinate outside at the moment so use your light filled indoor spaces to get your ‘grow on.’ You could start now with almost anything you want some of my favourites would be broad beans, peas, spinach, tomatoes and lettuces. Whilst sowing imagine the first barbeque of the year and plant what you’ll need to compliment your smoky meats and chilled beers.
Get Chitting – If you want to grow potatoes this year then it’s time to get started. Choose your favourite variety and buy some seed potatoes. Chitting is the process of putting your seed potatoes in a cool light place and allowing them to start sprouting shoots known as ‘chits’. Spread the potatoes out in seeds trays to allow them the space to start. Potatoes are a great crop and are versatile – however, if space to grow crops is an issue perhaps grow things that are slightly more expensive to buy in the shops instead.
Tunnel of Love – If you are lucky enough to have a polytunnel then the increasing daylight hours are going to be creating an atmosphere in the tunnel that will support the planting of seeds. Beware, plummeting temperatures will have an effect on what’s going on in the tunnel. To be on the safe side keep an eye on the forthcoming weather forecasts. To avoid getting caught out you could even create a mini tunnel inside your polytunnel with some clear plastic.
Winter Pruning – If you have any fruit trees now is your last chance to prune. If you leave it until spring they may have come out of dormancy and bleed sap when pruned.
Always use protection – If you’ve got any crops that you’ve been harvesting over the winter, now’s the time to protect them from hungry birds. Use nets on things like cabbages. If you want to help the wildlife then set up some bird feeders – making sure they’re away from your crops and out of reach of watchful pussy-cats.
So whether you’re shot with cupid’s arrow or not in February – there’s plenty to love about your garden this month. Have a good one!
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COMMENT | Has social media taken over your life?
The use of electronic communication over the past 5 to 10 years has boomed. Most of us use mobile phones and the majority of under 30-year-olds have smart phones. Computers are an integral part of our lives. Few send letters now. Most communicate through instant messaging and emails.
Although these forms of communication are very useful they can also cause anxiety, encourage poor self-esteem and can be all-consuming to the extent of affecting friendships and work. The jury is out on whether texting and emailing is addictive, but for some their lives do seem to be controlled by social media.
Here’s a test for you. What’s the first thing you do in the morning – look at your phone for messages? Have you ever gone out and forgotten your mobile? How did you react when you found out? When you last went out for a meal with friends did you or they read or respond to a text? How did that make you feel if it was them? If you have done more than one of these you are probably overly attached and might need to break that control.
Research is beginning to show that social media may affect our self-esteem. You start comparing what you are doing and what your friends are doing and if their life feels more interesting you begin to think you are boring and wonder why they are friends with you. Your self-esteem drops. In some cases, to counteract this, you may make stories up and, if not careful, get trapped in a web of lies.
This over-consuming need to be online and letting others know what you are doing can be tiring. You constantly need to portray an image and can seldom be yourself. Let’s agree that it is exciting to know what others are doing, if they are being chatted up or if their work is boring. But we all need time out. Time to be ourselves. Time to recharge.
The hyper-state of involvement in others’ lives that technology brings can train us to be constantly online so that we don’t miss out. But as a species we have not yet evolved to be so inundated with information about others. Our own lives are complicated enough for us to deal with without constant bombardment from others.
We need to rest our minds. So why not take control again of your life? Why not go straight to the shower in the morning and look at your phone when you have got ready to go out? Why not have a half day a week (to start with) when you will not be on-line and let everyone know this is what you are doing? It will be hard but this is just an indication of how attached and out of control you have become.
Holidays are useful ways to rest the mind. To give it time to recharge. These time-outs are very beneficial and help to prevent stress and breakdowns. How about turning off your phone for half the day every day and focus on those you are with? It is great to tell everyone what you are doing on holiday. It can make you feel important. But how about becoming mysterious and keeping them wondering by holding back sending too many messages.
Technology is great but it also has to work for you. It is there to serve us not for us to become its slave. Communicate electronically but remember face-to-face communications builds better relationships. Try to spend time with friends and lovers and give them your undivided attention.
Opinions expressed in this article may not reflect those of THEGAYUK, its management or editorial teams. If you’d like to comment or write a comment, opinion or blog piece, please click here.
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THEATRE REVIEW | Happy Days The Musical, Sheffield Lyceum and UK Tour
★ ★ ★ | Happy Days The Musical, Sheffield Lyceum and UK Tour
The Cunningham family are back in this new musical which transports the audience back to Arnolds Malt Shop for a huge slice of 50’s Americana, where Richie Cunningham and his friends and family rally the community to save their favourite local hangout from a corporate takeover. Along the way, they have dance contests, wrestling matches, learn about love, fulfil their dreams and rekindle old romances, all under the watchful eye of the ultra-cool Arthur “The Fonz” Fonzerella. But will their fundraising efforts be enough to save their beloved malt shop?
Written by Garry Marshall, the original creative force behind the popular TV series, and with Henry Winkler (the original “Fonz”) on board as a creative consultant, this new musical rocks ‘n’ rolls onto the stage in this national tour.
The first thing noticeable from the very start of the show was how well cast it was, with each of the actors looking remarkably like their television counterparts, in particular, Andrew Waldron who played Ralph. The show exploded to life with an upbeat ensemble piece as the opening number and from thereon in, the show progressed with an almost relentless barrage of songs, 21 in total, which, in a show with a running time of around 1 hour 45 minutes, meant that the next musical number was never more than a few moments away. The original songs were actually quite catchy upon first listen, but never memorable, with a fairly good weighting of up-tempo, rock ‘n’ roll tinged numbers interspersed with a couple of ballads.
There was no faulting the vivaciousness of the young cast, all of whom threw themselves into the show with an almost unstoppable energy. The set was simple, mainly using fold out sections of the main set to create the different locations and whilst the set was never spectacular, it was functional for the production. The lighting and costumes were colourful and compounded the energetic feel of the show, with the whole thing feeling fresh and modern which juxtaposed with the 1950’s setting slightly.
Former Sugababe, Heidi Range, impressed with her performance and a great singing voice which shone through particularly well in the ballads. Ben Freeman had an unexpectedly good singing voice although came across as a little aloof at times as he strutted across the stage as “The Fonz”. Cheryl Baker undertook an excellent turn as Marion Cunningham and Andrew Waldron provided an enjoyable comic performance as Ralph Malph. But the whole cast really gave it their all throughout the show and their enthusiasm was undeniable.
One of the aspects where the show faltered was in its sound, with a number of the audience commenting on how the volume of the orchestra completely drowned out the casts ‘s voices on the majority of the musical numbers, making the lyrics almost inaudible and leading to the production to come across as “shouty” at times. This was a particular shame when other songs were appropriately balanced in terms of music and voices. The show also came across as a little forced and when the audience were encouraged to their feet for the final sing-along, it felt contrived and stilted.
When you consider everything that this show has going for it, you would expect it to be greater than the sum of its parts. But despite the catchy songs, a decent cast and the colourful energy of the show, there was just something missing which led to the show feeling hollow and a little soulless. Happy Days comes across as a hybrid of Grease and Hairspray, but doesn’t reach the heights of either. It was an enjoyable enough piece of theatre, but ultimately, was fairly forgettable.
Happy Days is currently playing at the Sheffield Lyceum theatre until 22nd February 2014 before continuing on its national tour.
Information can be found at http://www.sheffieldtheatres.co.uk/event/happy-days-14/ or at the shows official website at http://happydaysthemusical.com/home
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Actor, Rib Hillis, Really Wants You To Watch His Movie Being Naked
Audiences in the UK might not know Rib Hillis, but they will after he posted of a naughty pic of himself to promote his new movie Birthday Cake.
In a move which could threaten to be his ruin or his making Rib Hillis has posted a picture of his rather hot body to promote his new movie Birthday Cake, which urges people to demand the film on Netflix and Redbox – which is DVD rental service in the US.
Rib with his clothes on…In a statement to Queerty, the actor said:
‘We made this movie specifically to show that gay families are just like any other family in America: they bicker with each other, they love each other and they get stressed out trying to plan the perfect child’s birthday party. We hope Redbox will consider carrying the film. The company received a lot of backlash earlier this year for carrying Bridegroom and we hope the gay community will support us and continue to support Redbox by demanding good films involving gay stories.’
Rib Hillis made his name as Jeds in Baywatch Nights and Dr Jake Marshak in Port Charles
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Christopher Malcolm, Ab Fab Actor Dies
Ab Fab Actor Christopher Malcolm dies at the age of 67.
Christopher Malcolm who played Saffy’s gay dad in the hit BBC comedy Absolutely Fabulous has died at the age of 67. He was also famous for playing the first ever Brad in the stage version of Rocky Horror Picture Show.
His daughter announced his passing via Twitter. The actor died on Saturday.
She tweeted:
‘Today the world lost a beautiful, brilliant man. My dad Christopher Malcolm left peacefully and with dignity. He will always be my hero. X’
The cause of his death has not yet been disclosed by the family.
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Ex Marine Now Model Alex Minsky Nude Pictures Leaked
oh gosh! This is what we need for a Monday, nude pictures of the tatooed hunk Alex Minsky turn up online.
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Gay Icon HRH Prince Harry 4th Coolest Man In Britain
Tom Daley and Prince Harry have been named in Zoo’s coolest men in the UK awards as voted for by the British public.
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THEATRE REVIEW | The Fat Man’s Wife
★★★★ | The Fat Man’s Wife
It’s the early hours of New Year’s Day 1938 and Vera and Joe are just getting in from a New York society party. They’re still drinking, still niggling at each other and Joe is still hankering after some more partying and looking for a way to extricate himself and join the young actress he’s been having an affair with. Complications arise when Dennis, a naïve young playwright, arrives unexpectedly to make Vera an offer that could free her from her troubled marriage to ‘the fat man’.
This absolute gem of a one-act play was only discovered in the papers of Tennessee Williams in 2000 and has never been performed in the U.K. before now. This is a rare opportunity to see a long hidden masterpiece. It has all the hallmarks of William’s work (the troubled marriage, the tortured souls and the heavy liquor consumption) as well as his lyrical yet tight dialogue. Surprisingly, it remains resonant today, with its themes of being trapped in a relationship that has changed out of all recognition since its rosy beginning.
The three-person cast are all excellent without a weak link and with a particularly powerful performance from Emma Taylor as Vera. She captures a range of emotional nuances whilst slinking about the stage in her peignoir and negligee, like a caged beast, finally beaten down by captivity but with her eye on the gaps in the bars.
The theatre itself is stunning in a beautiful location in Little Venice, just near to Warwick Avenue tube station. The only down side to the play being performed in such a beautiful old pub theatre, is the limitations this throws up. The seating was arranged in such a way that the audience felt a little obtrusive at times, but this is only a minor niggle. The actors managers to combat this finely and made the piece wholly believable.
I’d heartily recommend this to any Tennessee Williams fans but also to anyone who isn’t yet a fan, this is great one act play that is as good an introduction as anything.
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Dan Osborne and Tom Daley Strike A Pose
Now do TV moments get any better than this as Tom Daley and Dan Osborne Pose on Splash!
Never let it be said that we don’t enjoy a Tom Daley moment or a Dan Osborne moment but when the pair posed for Tom Daley’s Splash! programme – we thought all our Christmases and Birthdays had come at once…
Which then reminded us that we had some lovely pictures of Dan – so here you go! Enjoy