Vizage

So things didn't go so well for Vizage last night. I spoke to Sam today to see how they were doing and they are both fairly upbeat although very disappointed to be buzzed off. Especially with the way in which it happened.


I have always felt that by the time they get to the live finals the buzzers should be removed. It's fine to have them for the auditions, but at this stage every act remaining should be allowed to complete their spot. If the judges don't feel they are good enough then they should never have been put through to the finals.

In my opinion Sam and Vicki handled themselves very well in front of the judges, they acted in a highly professional manner. A complete contrast to the reaction from the Dean's of magic the night before.

It was always a huge gamble to go against the judges advice, but lots of people, myself included had told them to stay with the act they've been working with professionally. Did we all give bad advice? I don't think so, they are Vizage, a vocal illusion act. It's what separates them from other acts on the circuit. To drop the singing aspect would be to go against what Vizage is and that would be just as bad for them in the long run.

In my opinion the show put far too much emphasis on the singing. Sure Vicki isn't as good as some of the singers on the show, but that isn't the point. The main focus of the act is the quick change, it's something that was almost completely ignored during the build up. The viewers were led to believe that if Vicki dared to go against the judges it would be a complete disaster. They were at a huge disadvantage before they even began. But the response from the audience both during the act and when they were stopped was indicative that it was being enjoyed and people wanted to see it to the end.

Staying true to their act is what they wanted to do and they are both still convinced they did the right thing. As Sam stated, the judges are entitled to their opinion, that doesn't make them right. What is frustrating is when underhand tactics are employed, such as Simon hitting Amanda's buzzer. That really shouldn't be allowed and Amanda was clearly very annoyed with that.

So what's next for Vizage? Well I think it's safe to say they haven't committed professional suicide. They have already received several offers of work, a couple of them sound very exciting. They may not be appearing on the Royal Variety Performance, but they won't be short of work. They are a professional act that have been working for years and they will continue to do so. This show has raised their profile and I can't see anything but good coming from it in the long run.

Best game ad ever!

This is possibly the best trailer / advert for a video game I think I've ever seen. It's so bad it's good! I'll let you watch to make up your own mind:

Hopefully they didn't mean for this to be a serious advert because if they did they were way off the mark. But for a tongue in cheek light hearted way to advertise this game they've struck gold.

I wasn't really interested in this game before now and to be honest I'm still not that keen. But full marks for effort!

In other news, Vizage are appearing in the live semi final of Britain's Got Talent tonight (Thursday 29th) at 8:30pm. Please give them your vote!

Birthday weekend

So it's official, I've now entered my fourth decade of life. I've managed to successfully navigate 30 years without too much turbulence along the way. The question is, what do I do now? You see, I think I may be having a slightly early mid-life crisis... well, perhaps crisis is a bit too strong, but I've been having thoughts recently about what I'm doing with my life.

It's not that I'm unhappy in any way, that couldn't be further from the truth. However, everything is just a bit too comfortable at the moment and I could do with giving myself a kick up the arse. I'm just drifting along a bit right now, anyway, I don't want to go any deeper into this just now. I'll take a few days to think things through and see what I come up with. Perhaps I just need a new hobby, or perhaps just a holiday, I've not had one of those for about five years!

I decided that as it was a significant birthday and as it fell on a bank holiday weekend. I should declare the whole weekend as my birthday instead of just restricting myself to one day. It worked rather well and would highly recommend it to others. Friday night was curry night with friends, that was great and I didn't get home to bed until 5am. The Saturday was dedicated to doing family things and I went out for a meal with them to celebrate. The Sunday which was my actual birthday I had to work all day, but that was fine, it turned out to be quite an easy day and we finished early. So that just left today, which I was working.... again! This time though my colleagues had bought me a lovely birthday cake and again we were able to finish early.

I'm now sitting at home wondering how to round off my birthday weekend, and I can't think of any way to do it. I'm pretty tired now though so I'm thinking perhaps a hot drink, curl up in front of the telly and watch something like the new series of Battlestar Galactica that I haven't had time to start yet. After all, I'm getting old now I have to start taking things easy!

Britain's Got Talent

I've just heard that two good friends of mine have made it through to the live finals of "Britain's Got Talent". The friends in question are Sam and Vicki, aka Vizage, the quick change illusion act. It's common in my business to make friends with loads of people who you'll never see again once the show is over. However, in Sam and Vicki I've found that not to be the case, they are great people and true professionals in their field.

I've known Sam and Vicki for a many years now and have worked with them extensively on shows in the past. I am really pleased they've made it through because I was a bit concerned they may not progress past the preliminary stage after their audition didn't go as well as could be expected.

If you saw the audition then you'll know what I mean and if you didn't then you can see it on YouTube:

I know that the pair of them have practised long and hard honing this act until it is perfect. Unfortunately on the day of the audition Vicki's nerves got the better of her voice, but hopefully she'll be on top of her game for the next round. I'll certainly be giving them my full support and vote, watch out for them next week! Good luck guys.

So I got a blog

Well it took me a while, but I finally succumbed to the blogging phenomenon. I've already made my first post which was a rant about car insurance, so this is just a quick follow up. I'm not really sure why I've started a blog or who I expect to read it, if anyone. Perhaps it has something to do with me turning 30 at the weekend, I dunno. But anyway, here it is, let's see if I can keep it active.

I'll probably use this blog to talk about anything interesting that happens to me, so it probably won't get updated very often! I'll also use it to talk about games, post my impressions and my progress. I already read a few gaming diaries and while this won't be quite as detailed as some of those (deKay and TheRev I'm looking at you) I'll try and keep it relatively up to date with what I'm playing.

So, to kick things off what am I playing now.... well, nothing! You see my lovely 21" wide screen monitor that I use for my 360 has been sent away to hospital. It needs a new back light and with only a few days of the 12 month guarantee remaining I decided I needed to act. So until that returns in a week or so I won't be able to get my CoD4 fix, or make any more progress on GTA4.

Fortunately I can still use the Wii on my other TV, but I'm not really playing anything on that at the moment. Perhaps I should, I've got plenty of games I've not completed including the rather fantastic Super Mario Galaxy. I also have Zelda which I've barely touched and Metroid too. I really should take this opportunity to give these games a good outing, but I just don't seem to have any enthusiasm for the Wii at the moment.

I guess that's about all I have to talk about for the time being. Actually another thought just crossed my mind. Perhaps I created this blog because I don't have my 360 to play, when my monitor returns this might all be forgotten. Time will tell....

My job sucks

For car insurance!

Just been searching for quotes on-line and used confused.com to find the best price. My renewal was £307 but Confused said that the AA would cover me for £156! "Woop" I thought so went there to check the details and buy the policy.

However, it appears confused.com got a bit confused about my occupation. I told them I was a stage manager in theatre, but for some reason the AA thought I was a production manager in manufacturing. Once I had corrected these details, my quote from the AA went up to £270! Ouch.... Still cheaper than my renewal price, but how much am I being penalised for my job!

So I'm still trawling the sites to see if I can get a better price but I'm getting a bit sick of entering my details over and over again now.