Goal 56 of my 101 goals list is to visit 101 museums by the end of the 1001 days. This list is intended to help me keep track of which museums I have visited, and my thoughts on each of them.
The List:
1. Skogar Folk Museum, Iceland – 18th March 2012 – More Info.
2. National Museum of Iceland, Iceland – 20th March 2012 – More Info.
A little over a week ago, I discovered Michael McIntyre was planning to do warm up shows for his new tour at the Manchester Comedy store. Tickets were only £10, but it was very much a "get them if you can" situation as he was only planning to do a few nights to test out some of his new material. Thankfully, I was lucky enough to get 2 tickets, so last night the other half and I trundled off to Manchester to go and watch the discount show. We've both seen Michael McIntyre before when he did a show in Liverpool, and I really enjoy his live shows. I personally think he is very different live to the exaggerated persona he has on TV, but I know he's a bit of a Marmite comedian.
Before the show started, we had a bit of an issue involving a demonic goose. We'd parked near the Comedy Store, but decided to get something to eat on Oxford Road. The quickest way was to walk alongside the Manchester Ship Canal. Ordinarily, this is a pretty uneventful walk, but for some reason we angered a goose who refused to let us, or anyone else for that matter, walk past. We ended up having to run past it as it attempted to bite us! There was one guy who nearly fell off his bike because of it, and a student who escaped by waving a Sainsbury's bag at it. I can only assume it had made a nest nearby, but we couldn't see anything to confirm this.
Still, after fighting off a goose and getting something to eat, we settled into the most uncomfortable seating known to mankind to watch the show. The show was very good. My favourite part was Michael doing an impression of the pre-teen girls on My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding dancing. There was quite a bit of audience participation in terms of people shouting things out, and people being singled out to include them into jokes. I wouldn't necessarily say he was heckled, when the most offensive thing shouted was "Michael, I bloody love you" by a drunk guy a few rows in front of us. You couldn't really tell that it was a warm up show / trial show as it just felt like an intimate gig. As the venue was quite small, he was able to interact more and by the end I was satisfied that I'd seen something unique as so much of the show wouldn't have worked with another audience. I would have happily paid £20 a ticket for the material that we saw, and for the way the show was carried out.
So far, I think this may be my favourite goal of the 1001 days as I'm not even up to my first 100 days and have already seen 3 very different comedy shows and none have disappointed me in any way, shape, or form.
Day 38 officially marks my first goal completion. I have finally decided upon a final list of 101 places or events I want to see. A lot of the list was constructed when I was writing my 101 goals as I kept including different things I wanted to see as individual goals. This seemed to fill up too much of the list, so I devised creating a list of 101 things to see as an individual goal to extend the length of the list.
As I suspected when I initially wrote why I was including this on my list, the second half of the list was more difficult. I'm happy with the finished list though, and have tried to include a mix of places in the UK that I want to see, places abroad, and naturally occurring items so that completing goal 34, and seeing 20 items from the list within the next 1001 days doesn't involve having to travel the globe. As much fun as globe trotting would be, my bank balance doesn't allow it.
I'll be updating this post as and when I see items from the list, and will include links to blog posts about each of the items.
The List:
1. The Northern Lights
2. Deir el-Medina
3. Stonehenge
4. Sedlec Ossuary, Prague
5. The Colosseum
6. Bust of Nefertiti
7. A Winter Olympic Event
8. A Volcano Erupting
9. Aushwitz
10. Machu Pichu
11. Petra
12. Taj Mahal
13. Grand Canyon
14. Great Barrier Reef
15. Grand Canal, Venice
16. Chernobyl
17. Giant's Causeway
18. Uluru
19. A Glacier
20. Neuschwansetin Castle
21. Pompeii
22. Angkor Wat
23. Chichen Itza
24. Ypres Menin Gate
25. Land's End
26. John O'Groats
27. Vatican City
28. A Holywood Star
29. Set of Neighbours
30. Leaning Tower of Pisa
31. Great Wall of China
32. Sydney Opera House
33. Angel of the North
34. The Acropolis
35. Little Mermaid, Copenhagen
36. A Dinosaur Skeleton
37. Edfu
38. A Tar Pit
39. A Fjord
40. Chrysler Building
41. St Basil's Cathedral
42. Hadrian's Wall
43. The Millau Viaduct
44. Carcassonne
45. Death Valley
46. A UK Lighthouse
47. Carnegie Hall
48. London Dungeons
49. GMT Line
50. Sistine Chapel
51. Statue of Liberty
52. Waitomo Glowworm Caves
53. Mount Fuji
54. View From the Top of the London Eye
55. Benfica FC Ground
56. Barter Books Bookshop
57. Japanese Cherry Blossom
58. Jokulsarlon, Iceland
59. Golden Gate Bridge
60. Kew Gardens
61. Mount Rushmore
62. San Francisco Cable Car
63. Mood Fabrics, New York
64. Berlin Wall
65. Williamson Tunnels
66. Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch
67. Petronas Towers
68. Mount Kilamanjaro
69. Salem
70. Antelope Canyon
71. Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bride
72. York Minster
73. A Crop Circle
74. Santorini
75. Yosemite National Park
76. The Eden Project
77. Yorkshire Sculpture Park
78. Chinese Dragon Dance
79. Niagara Falls
80. Tian Tan Budha
81. Pontcysyltte Aqueduct
82. Florence
83. Moai on Easter Island
84. Smithsonian Museum
85. Roswell
86. Imber
87. Dead Sea
88. Green Flash as Sunsets
89. Staligmite
90. Staligtite
91. Mont-St-Michel
92. Amsterdam Tulips
93. Trevi Fountain
94. Nuclear Bunker
95. Stand on the Border of 2 Countries
96. Stand on No-Mans Land (Between Continents)
97. Speaker's Corner Performance
98. A Ghost Station
99. Skara Brae
100. Straddle 2 or more USA States
101. Salisbury Cathedral
Last night, I went to the Theatre Royal St Helens to see Dave Spikey. Two stand up shows within 48 hours! My Mum and Auntie got tickets for the 4 of us (myself, the other half and them) to go and watch the St Helens leg of Dave Spikey's Word's Don't Come Easy tour. I've seen his stand up DVD's, and of course Phoenix Nights and 8 Out of 10 Cats, but I've never seen him live. My Mum and Auntie have seen him live and said he was great live, but as I took my seat I had no idea how funny he would be. I was literally crying laughing for most of the show.
The basic premise of the show was Dave Spikey examining the English language. This included headlines from newspapers, poems, and song lyrics thrown in with his comments on chat up lines and stories from his youth. By far the funniest part was his dismantling of song lyrics. I was doubled up laughing at this section of the show, and then he started playing Des' Ree's song Life. As soon as I head the intro, I recognised the song and started laughing. My family weren't sure what was up with me, and then Dave Spikey started explaining the lyrics. As lyrics go, they are hilarious, but include some comments from Dave Spikey and they caused an unstoppable laughing fit that left me in tears. In case you've never heard the song, the below is a youtube video with the song, and the lyrics:
Yes, Des'Ree is so scared of ghosts, she'd rather have a piece of toast. Like Dave Spikey, I'm not sure how these are comparable. His comments on it were some of the funniest stand up lines I've ever heard.
Two comedians in to my 101 and both have been absolutely amazing but very different shows to one another. I'm looking forward to who the others I see will be, but I'd be happy to see Dave Spikey again. As long as I had tissues with me so I didn't look such a mess after crying with laughter.
Goal 98 of my 101 goals list is to see 101 comedians by the end of the 1001 days. This list is intended to help me keep track of how many I've seen, and also act as an index for posts about my thoughts on the shows.
The List:
1. Jay and Silent Bob Get Old Live – 17th Feb 2012 – More Info.
2. Dave Spikey – 18th Feb 2012 – More Info.
3. Michael McIntyre – 13th March 2012 – More Info.
Back in October 2011, I bought tickets for the other half and I to go and watch Jay and Silent Bob Get Old Live at The Apollo in Manchester. The first birthday present I ever bought for him was Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back on dvd for his 21st birthday, so it seemed quite fitting that for his 30th I got him tickets to see Kevin Smith and Jason Mewes live. Thankfully, they didn't disappoint.
The actual show was literally them sat at a table discussing different things, including how Jason wandered round Manchester but couldn't retain any of the information he'd learnt less than 5 hours ago, how he bought Chinese medicine pills in a shop in London aimed at prolonging sex, and how Kevin has a lame dog. By far the funniest part was Let Us Fuck, where Jason and a member of the audience had to act out a scenario that Kevin shouted out. One of the members of the audience was dressed as Silent Bob and was eerily good. He could have been a double. Watching him and Jason Mewes act out a scene whilst the audience member stayed completely in character and didn't speak at all was hilarious. I came out and was literally hurting from laughing.
I think the highlight of the night, was standing outside before the show started and waiting by the stage door. We managed to get autographs and photographs with both Kevin Smith and Jason Mewes. We may have even ended up on the DVD of the tour that's being filmed. It was an amazing night, and the smile on the other half's face after meeting them was priceless.
I really hope they do more tours in the UK so that we have a chance to see them again. I can't remember the last time I laughed so much in such a short space of time.
Goal 57 of my 101 goals list is to see 101 musicals by the end of the 1001 days. This list is intended to help me keep track of how many I've seen, and also act as an index for posts about my thoughts on the musical. I wouldn't call them reviews exactly, more my mumblings.
The List:
1. Legally Blonde – Liverpool Empire – 7th Feb 2012 - More Info.
Last night, I went to watch Legally Blonde The Musical at the Liverpool Empire. I'd already planned to go and watch this before I started my 101 goals as I've wanted to see the musical for ages. The film is one of my favourite guilty pleasures, and everything I've seen and heard about the musical suggested it would be fantastic. Thankfully, I wasn't disappointed!
When I was flicking through the programme before the show started, I was worried about some of the casting. I wasn't convinced that Les Dennis would match up to the Professor Callahan I'd imagined. I'll admit that my idea of Callahan was heavily influenced by the film, but I didn't think he'd make me admire and hate him in equal parts as film Callahan always did. He did a great job. He completely changed how I view the character of Callahan. When he did the scene where he sexually harrasses Elle, I really hated every part of him, which is a pretty good indication of how good he was.
The other person I wasn't sure about was Ray Quinn. Unlike Les Dennis, he didn't make me eat my words. He just wasn't smarmy enough, and his voice didn't really go with Faye Brookes (Elle). I think part of the problem was he just looks so young. He looked far too young to be going to Harvard Law School.
The set designs were really impressive, but my favourite aspect was how memorable the songs were. I can understand why the show is so popular, and I would jump at the chance to see it again. The songs fit in so well with the premise of the show. This is the first show that I've seen that can be considered a new musical, and I was really impressed. It makes the current stream of musicals based on successful films much more appealing, which can only be a good thing given how many have come out in the last 5 to 10 years.
So, here we go. A second, possibly third, attempt to complete 101 goals in 1001 days. My previous attempts essentially failed as life got in the way of adventure. Whilst moving home, almost being made redundant, moving jobs, and moving to a completely different town were all necessary, they were also somewhat mundane tasks that took far too much of my time and physical energy to enable me to concentrate on completing goals.
The plus side of course is that I have had time to reflect and change the goals that I've included and to remove some goals entirely as I've changed so much as a person in the 4+ years I've been planning to complete this challenge.
I am nervous though. I feel fairly confident that I will achieve all 101 goals, but whose to say what will happen in the next 1001 days? I can't rule out the possibility that life will throw a spanner in the works and in a years time I'll be sat here thinking about starting again. I guess my main goal should be to ensure I balance work and home life with the adventure that 101 goals provides. I need to make sure that completing these goals is fun and that I don't come to view them as an additional chore to be completed.
So here I am, on the precipice. I need to start as I mean to go on, and remember that 101 goals is about the experience, the adventure, learning / trying something new and creating memories.
I consider this goal complete when… I have 6 months wages in a savings account.
Why this is on my list… I don't really have any sort of savings. I'm part of the share save scheme in work which is due to mature in 3 years time, but other than that I have no money saved up for emergencies. At the time of starting my 1001 days, 6 months in savings equates to near enough £10,000 give or take a few hundred. That's based on pre-tax basic pay. It seems like it would be wise to have that amount in savings just in case work went through another restructure and I found myself without a role to move into. That amount of money in savings would certainly mean I could life comfortably whilst looking for a new job. It's a big ask to get that much saved whilst also paying off all my debt for goal 45 but I'm hoping I can do it with the help of car boot sales to get rid of some of my excess belongings.
Goal Status… Not yet started.
