http://www.mitchbenn.com en admin@notbbc.co.uk Tue, 01 Dec 2009 08:00:00 +0000 http://www.mitchbenn.com/blog/949/hoooooooooooo_boy.html Fri, 08 Jan 2010 00:14:23 +0000 Rrright, first of all, it turns out that as it stands I CAN'T blog with the new iPhone. Not yet anyway. Some sort of cookies-related issue; Rob the webgenius is investigating as we speak.  What this means in the immediate term is that far from it suddenly becoming possible to update this blog on the move, I'm still stuck with updating it from my home iMac, which is a bummer since the very fact of my BEING at home usually means there's a dozen other things need doing. http://www.mitchbenn.com/blog/930/past_present_present_present.html Fri, 04 Dec 2009 00:45:04 +0000 It's that time again and so I thought I'd re-post the reading I made last year of the whole of Dickens's A Christmas Carol; it's in five "staves" (as in the book) - you can download 'em all at once or serialise it for yourself.  It's on the podcasts page. (While I'm here, many of you have been asking if I'm going to do any more podcasts; the answer is probably not in the same format as the ones I used to post, but I'm working on a whole new podcast format which I hope to kick off in the New Year - stay tuned etc.) http://www.mitchbenn.com/blog/928/and_relax.html Sun, 29 Nov 2009 01:23:00 +0000 A bit. So the tour's over; we ended in fine style at the Gulbenkian in Canterbury in front of an audience whose enthusiasm rivalled even that of the London show's crowd (and considering how many ringers - erm, I mean, Close Friends And Relations - we had in at the Bloomsbury, I think we might even say that the Canterbury crowd "won"). So the tour's over; we ended in fine style at the Gulbenkian in Canterbury in front of an audience whose enthusiasm rivalled even that of the London show's crowd (and considering how many ringers - erm, I mean, Close Friends And Relations - we had in at the Bloomsbury, I think we might even say that the Canterbury crowd "won").  The show was recorded "off the desk"  - it's clear as a bell but since there were no audience mikes in operation the laughter and applause is only barely audible. It might be possible to tweak this and make the recording available in some form in the future; obviously I'll announce that if and when it happens.  We stuck the freshly burned CD on in the car on the way home, ostensibly just to see how it had turned out quality-wise.  We ended up listening to the whole thing.  I'm pleased to say that, experiencing the show for the first time as a listener, I was struck by how well it flowed and held together.  I think this was our best show so far and it sets a high bar for next year. http://www.mitchbenn.com/blog/913/hello_all_and_sorry_and_all_that_and_everything.html Mon, 26 Oct 2009 22:46:35 +0000 I know it's been weeks and I'm getting as sick as everyone else of the fact that every entry on this blog now begins with a lengthy grovelling apology for the length of the gap since the last one, so shall we just say sod it, until at least the end of November (when the tour finishes and my life will return to what passes for "normality" in my case) this is how it's going to have to be with regard to blog entries and the frequency thereof.  Having said that, apparently Orange will finally stop teasing me and release their first iPhones in about three weeks after which I'll be able to update the blog while on the move (at the moment I can tweet using my phone but that's all). Speaking of Twitter, a day or so ago I made a promise to a Tweep acquaintance of mine to follow up more fully on a conversation we were having; basically (as far as I can tell) she's getting hassle from her family to study something at university which doesn't interest her but which they feel will give her the best job opportunities. A mutual friend of ours weighed in to the effect that she should do the degree which would help her get the job SHE wanted, rather than the job her parents thought she should get.  On reading this I felt compelled to join the discussion; I said I'd go further than that - I thought she should do whatever degree she'd enjoy doing the most, and sod the job prospects.  Realising that this might sound glib or reckless (not to mention a bit smug and complacent coming from a bloke who's managed to end up singing rude songs for a living) I promised to explain at length why this comment was not reckless hedonistic or irresponsible, but was in fact sage career advice.  This would take many many tweets to do properly, so it is to you, my poor neglected blog, that I turn. http://www.mitchbenn.com/blog/910/wondrous_stories.html Tue, 29 Sep 2009 23:23:45 +0000 Here's the press blurb for the documentary I've been working on for the past few months.  I haven't heard the finished one but I've got a fair idea how it'll sound, and I hope everyone likes it.  I'm happy anyway as it gave the me the chance to meet a couple of heroes of mine for the first time; Jeff Wayne, of "...'s Musical Version Of The War Of The Worlds" immortality, and Brian Blessed. Jeff Wayne agreed to be interviewed on Horsell Common near Woking, the site of the first Martian landing in TWOTW (book and album; one thing we discussed is that for all that his record is a weird disco-prog hybrid concept album it's actually the only one of the myriad adaptations of TWOTW which even attempts to be faithful to the book) which was damned sporting of him considering the interview was for the radio, and dragging him all the way to darkest Surrey didn't really achieve anything sonically save for a bit of atmos we could have gotten off an FX CD.   He's a remarkably unassuming guy and quite humble about the record itself - I learned a few things I hadn't realised, such as the fact that he financed the whole recording himself, gambling every penny he and his whole extended family had on the project before he'd even attained a firm commitment from any record label to release the damn thing... http://www.mitchbenn.com/blog/908/weight_again_and_the_books_out_hurrah.html Tue, 29 Sep 2009 17:10:55 +0000 I really must start using this blog for things other than the bloody weight thing - damn Twitter, it's so bloody easy and it makes me feel like I'm staying in touch with everybody while neglecting this place. 21 3, so another half pound gone, I think. http://www.mitchbenn.com/blog/907/weighed.html Mon, 21 Sep 2009 08:08:01 +0000 21 3 and a half, so half a pound down, so yay me. Got to dash, off to rehearse wi t'band. http://www.mitchbenn.com/blog/906/hello_from_tvc.html Sun, 20 Sep 2009 06:55:50 +0000 It's five to 8 on Sunday morning and I've been up since before 6. I've seen 6am on Sunday morning before but not, I think, coming at it from this side. http://www.mitchbenn.com/blog/902/rrrright.html Tue, 08 Sep 2009 02:22:20 +0000 Yes I know it's been a little while - actually, yes I know it's been a BIG while. And yes I know I've now missed two weight blogs, so let's deal with that first.  Last week I dropped a pound to 21 4, this week I'm the same.  That's that out of the way. In terms of more general where-the-hell-have-I-beens, well I know I say "I've been busy" a lot, and for what it's worth it's always true, but it's never been quite so VIVIDLY true as it is just now.  This autumn I am doing pretty much everything I've ever done in terms of writing and performance all at once, as well as a couple of things I've never done before. http://www.mitchbenn.com/blog/901/dum_dum_dummmm.html Mon, 24 Aug 2009 12:31:17 +0000 SO I found the scales, dug 'em out, fired 'em up and I've put three pounds on. (21.2 to 21.5) Not surprised at all and thought it could even have been worse. What with losing the scales and the house move and just generally being insanely busy I had rather taken my eye off the ball recently and in particular the last week or so I have basically been eating motorway rubbish almost exclusively. Clara wants me to blame Neil Gaiman for plying me with caramelised aubergines, but that seems unfair.  I could have stuck to the sashimi if I'd wanted to.