Quick update!

Hi all!  Sorry for the ridiculously long hiatus this blog has been on.  I’ve been working on other things & new ideas.

The big news is I am now separating my various areas into separate blogs.  This blog will be about general work, and small updates on what I’ve been up to, with links to the specific blogs for more detail.  That way, you, my loyal readers, will be able to choose to read about just what you’re interested in, without having to sift through irrelevant information that you don’t really care about.  Get it?  Got it?  Good!

I’d also like to announce that I now have a Twitter! My Twitter will likely be updated a LOT more regularly than my blogs, with short & to-the-point updates on what I’m up to.  I find this really exciting, because I love Twitter, and I hope if you have a Twitter you’ll follow along my funny little journey.  Be sure to send me an @reply and say hi when you start following me, so I can be sure you’re not a spambot!  Those things are crazy out-of-control on Twitter.

So, no posts as of yet, but be on the lookout for posts here which will link to my various area-specific blogs (all currently under construction):

Pizazz Music

Pizazz Photography

Pizazz Writing

Pizazz Reviews

and more to come.  This blog will act almost like an RSS feed, just letting you know when there’s updates on the other blogs, and about what, so you can browse at your leisure!

See you all soon when I start posting in this New Improved Blogging Method!

Geek out,

Bec

P.S. Don’t forget to grab your tickets for Broadway to Australia!  Details on my Upcoming Events Page.

Exciting things…

So, a few exciting things have happened since I last wrote here.

The two smaller exciting things are:  I have been offered the chance of a gig on a Thursday or Sunday perhaps, at the Alley Cat Bar (very awesome venue by the way) if I get some sort of band or act together.  So I plan to get something organised soon!  And secondly, I have been called back for a second interview for the position of receptionist at the Mercure Hotel.  Wish me luck!

Over at my music blog you can find a detailed post on the Conservatorium/Elizabeth College Summer Rock School, which I attended, and all the great things I learnt there.  Click here to read it all!

The most recent exciting thing that has happened has been through my writing blog, where I post all my poetry and prose.  I have been made an offer involving selling my poems to a composer as lyrics for songs.  Read more by clicking here.

In less significant news, I’ve been rearranging and redesigning this blog a little, you should see some changes happening gradually over the next little while.  I have also  booked my ticket to see John Fogerty, one-time member of Creedence Clearwater Revival, live at the Southern Roots Festival!  Of course there are other artists too (and you’d want to hope so, for $130 a ticket) but it is he who I am most excited about.  I don’t even remember who else is playing.  I saw John live at the DEC a few years ago, an absolutely amazing and explosive concert, so am really looking forward to experiencing him in an open-air gig.  Unfortunately the rules state no musical instruments are to be brought in by patrons, so I can’t get him to sign my guitar as I was hoping… but I’m thinking I’ll maybe just take in my guitar case for him to sign, what do you think?

Theory is not as boring as I expected.

On Sunday I began my lessons in music theory with tutor Ashton Maggs, in preparation for my Conservatorium entry test. Read more at my music blog by clicking here.

Last night I finished a critique for Drama, today being the final due date for them, and got it done, which was incredibly satisfying because now I have no more written work left for school! It is such a wonderful feeling of freedom. I have so little left now before I’m off completely for holidays, and all that I have left is fairly easy and enjoyable.

Updated to do list:
-Theory lessons (plus homework) twice a week until my theory test for the Conservatorium.
-External music performance exam next Monday.
-Singing with Claire in her external performance exam next Tuesday.
-Conservatorium audition, then theory test
-Southern Gospel Choir rehearsals & final concert

And that’s it! I am very much looking forward to a break after such a busy year. However I won’t just be sitting around playing video games the whole time. I’m looking forward to getting a bunch of stories, poetry & philosophy writing done, doing some musical collaborations with a drummer friend of mine, perhaps doing some modelling for some friends of mine who do photography. And most of all, finally getting together with those who have offered to model for me, and attempting some of the ideas for photos I’ve had written down for a while.

Something else I am looking forward to is spending some time with my friend Paul George of Digital Graffiti: http://www.digitalgraffiti.com.au He’s offered to teach me how to properly use Adobe Photoshop and other graphics programs, which would be handy, and could even possibly lead to some kind of employment. We’ll see. He also said that I can borrow his digital SLR camera if I need to, which is good.

So yes, the holidays are shaping up to be productive and fun. I might even see if I can get a waitressing job or somesuch.

One more interesting thing before I go, I found this site and that of my friend Justin Smith linked to from this page:  http://www.tas.gov.au/tasmaniaonline/Nav/Topic.asp?Topic=Personal%20sites
There’s even a small summary that someone has obviously taken the time to write.  I was delighted that someone would do that, and that my blog was deemed interesting or informative enough to be of use in that stockpile.

Looking forward to the warmer weather!

Bec

Update

My life has been busy doing homework & rehearsals for The Tempest continue at a bit of a tedious pace.  We filmed the last scene of Inspirit on Saturday, which was good.  I saw the play Ying Tong on Saturday evening, that was amazing, hilarious, and very poignant.  I love Spike Milligan, such a pity he’s dead, I so much wanted to write to him.  I’m going to see Miriam Margolyes next Saturday, that looks like it will be a fantastic night out.

Update on my progress in entering the Young Jazz Players’ Competition, and exciting Southern Gospel Choir possibilities, over at my music blog!

I’ve also posted an update on my writing blog, and finally finished uploading all my poetry in chronological order, both of which you can read by clicking here!

As for modelling and photography, I’ve actually had a few ideas recently so once exams are over I will be back into that!

I must go finish filling out my scholarship application forms… and do my homework!  I’ve done 1000 words on my Tempest folio, so 2000 to go!

Possibilities.

They are endless! I have found that this work blog is increasingly useful. Already I have referred three different people to this site and I feel it is a really good thing to have all my endeavours recorded here on the one site – hopefully the way I have set it out makes it simple and easy for my prospective employers to find what they are looking for.

I am currently writing my resume so that I can apply for that Santa photos job. Resumes are a painful thing to create. So many things I want to say that I find it difficult to say in a professional-sounding way. And the marks I receive from school are in an incredibly impractical format for putting onto a resume. So I suppose I must just get more jobs so that I have enough work experience to put on there that I don’t need the school results anymore! My “previous employment” section looks quite bare. The problem is, I have not often had time for a job, because I spend all my spare time chasing my singing, acting, writing, modelling, and photography endeavours! I hope I can easily show that I may not have had much actual employment experience, but have had a lot of other experience. Also I am a very fast and eager learner (if I may blow my own horn) so I doubt it would be difficult for me to quickly pick up jobs in retail, office, or other such things.

On the writing front, I have recently submitted some work to a poetry book to possibly be published, and also have been told some of my poems will be published in a local bi-monthly poetry broadsheet… read more over at my writing blog!

Moving on, tomorrow is the last day in this week of rehearsals for our production of Shakespeare’s The Tempest. I know all my lines now, which is encouraging, and there has been plenty of great character development going on, not only with my own character but everyone else’s as well. We have a great cast – I must especially mention the amazing Ellen Watts as the spirit Ariel. Not only is she incredibly beautiful, not only is she talented – she sings, dances, acts, and probably does other things I’m not aware of – but she is such a clever, kind and friendly person to be around. I must also mention that she choreographed pretty much the entirety of Rosny College’s highly successful musical production this year, Chicago. The show was very professional (so say many mouths, not just my own). Plus she taught us all how to dance. She really is an amazing girl, and so busy – I thought I did a lot of things until I caught a glimpse of her planner. It’s ridiculous! I don’t know how she does it. But I digress. She plays a wonderful Ariel, very beautiful and creepy and cunning all at once, making wonderful shapes within her “bag”. What am I talking about? You’ll have to come see the show to find out!

Now it is quite late and I must finish my resume and send it off, Saturday is the last day for applications, plus my eyes are getting sore and I’m getting a headache… (I’ll be getting my new reading glasses next week, hooray!) I would’ve liked to have it in much earlier, but rehearsals and lack of internet have made that difficult.

Oh, and I got a nice little plug on the Inspirit blog today… www.megalithproject.blogspot.com Not a very flattering photo, but hey, a plug is a plug!

I have rehearsal at 10 tomorrow (well, technically today…) so I’d best be off.

Bec

3:46am

I have had a long night editing this page… mainly setting up the Modelling Examples page. I have now finished editing that particular page for now, having uploaded all the photos I wanted, and figured out how to make them display as I want them to. It is time for bed now, but first a quick summary of the past few days.

This past Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday I have spent acting in the short film “Inspirit”.

We have filmed on location at Rosny Farm, Droughty Point and Kangaroo Bluff. It has been both stressful and enjoyable. This is the first short film I have been a part of, and acting on film is a new experience for me. I am a little concerned that I may have allowed bad weather, tiredness and bad tempers to affect me, and that my acting has been perhaps a little less focused than I would like it to be, however, we shall see. It has been a learning experience.

Brad McGinniss, the writer, director, producer and creator of the whole project, has not done a great deal of directing before and so it has been a learning experience for him too. I have enjoyed working with experienced actors John Andrews and Stephen Ashton, both of whom are not only talented but clever and fun to be around. Mick Lowenstein was also great to work with as he was stoic and uncomplaining through even the most stressful parts of filming. I spent some time talking with our continuity & production stills photographer Alan Jennison, who was also great fun to work with, and I was often interested in what he was doing in relation to my own pursuits in photography. I also enjoyed posing for some more artistic shots now and then, and hopefully I will soon have a few to upload here for all to see. And of course my good friend Justin Smith of InneBate AV was cinematographer and cameraman. He suffered from bad health during shooting but as always was hardworking and fun to work with.

We have one more scene to shoot, coincidentally my favourite scene, however the tavern where we were going to film was not available for some time, so it is unsure when we will be shooting it. This was quite relieving for me as now I have tomorrow and the weekend to learn my lines for The Tempest. I need to have them memorised by Monday, when we start our main rehearsals, which will go all through next week.

Please take a look at the websites of the people involved in this project:
The Inspirit homepage
Stephen Ashton – Actor, singer and much more, in the Blues Brothers Revival band
Justin Smith, video/audio technician
Alan Jennison, photographer and tour guide

Well, it’s time for me to head off to sleep now. I will probably update again sometime next week, during rehearsals.

Signing off at 4:14am

Bec

Suggestions for a better title?

I’m pretty proud that my custom header worked out okay after I battled with Photoshop.  But I feel that the title of my blog – Versatility Is Vital – is a bit over the top.  Sounds a bit like an ad for pimple cream or something.  So can anyone think of a better one?

I have heaps more stuff to do here but I have to go to the supermarket and then home now… so, I promise more is to come.

Bec

Working on the work blog

So today I have spent a few hours on this blog, creating the pages you can now see in the sidebar.  They are not all finished, but they are done as best as I can whilst here at school.  Here is what I have done:

-I changed the title of the blog to something that sucks a little less.

-I edited my About page to be more informative and professional. 

-I created several Example pages, one for each of my arts, in order to display some of the best of my work in each category to prospective employers.  The Acting page will have specific videos of me embedded.    The Modelling page will contain photos of me, both from the Fringe Fashion Festival and some of my self-portraits, and hopefully sometime soon, results of my modelling for other artists.  The Music page will perhaps eventually have videos or sound clips of my singing.  The Photography page… fairly self-explanatory I think.  The Writing page is finished for now, with examples of my best writing.  I may create a Dance page if I get any content worth putting on there.

-I created an Experiences, Awards & Qualifications page, as a sort of resumé.  It contains all the important experience etc.  I have had in my various areas.

-I created a References & Contact Info page, to allow anyone to contact me, and also to access referrals from such people as my teachers,  employers, even landlords.

-I created a Skills & Specifications page, to outline my strengths and the specifications of the equipment I use.
So, just writing this entry to keep a record of what I did.  Now, I also have some issues.

1.  Is it dangerous to put one’s surname on the internet?  I want to do that for my work blog as it seems much more professional than just having my given name.  However I have always avoided putting my surname on the internet, I suppose for fear that creepy stalker-type-peoples could use it to look me up somehow, off-line.  But is this an irrational fear?  Or not, considering that I live in a small town?

2.  Which template to use, and, how to make a spooty header?  :P

I have a lot of stuff to write about, I mean, real-life actual work stuff, but I should be going home now and doing some actual homework.

 Bec

Well, here I am again…

Starting yet another blog.  Much as some would not believe it,  I did not want another blog, I already have a personal online journal, a philosophising blog, and then there are the many other sites I am registered to that happen to have a blog in them… but strangely enough, I was encouraged (perhaps jokingly) to get a WordPress blog by my friend who has his professional blog here, and after having a bit of a browse around it seems WordPress may be the place to have a professional blog.  Which I decided I would do, because I would like to chronicle the progress of my various careers, and maybe give prospective employers something to look at to see what I’ve done.

Anyway… let the blogging begin, I guess!

 Bec