Yup.
There's been this thing.
It's
still a thing and the thing isn't a nice thing, but we've all learned
to take care of ourselves and others during the thing, and many of us
are injected against the thing and are getting through the thing and
looking on ahead.
But this is a time of year to look back too, and
so, having noted the thing, allow me to round up the last orbit, suggest
some culture tips and offer a discount on some books.
Superdoops and Hopewards!
My 2021 activities:
In January I filmed scenes as a Tudor doctor in the upcoming drama series BECOMING ELIZABETH.
I then played an entirely different doctor in the film SILENT TWINS.
And then, if that wasn't enough doctors, I was in an episode of the BBC1 continuing drama DOCTORS, this time playing not a doctor, but a shy man who turns into the March Hare in Wonderland (you kind of have to watch it).
I've also shot a small scene in the upcoming series 2 of THE CAPTURE, playing a translator.
I did a spot of voice work as George Washington for the brilliant Matt Parker's Stand Up Math's channel.
Livewise, I performed spooky stories at The ALSO Festival and at Elf Lyons' House of Horrors at 2Northdown in July.
My
planned and postponed show for the 2020 Edinburgh Fringe is now up and
running and I'm hoping to present it at the 2022 Fringe.
WHO HERE'S LOST? (in Double Bills with the wonderful Joanna Neary
and her brilliantly funny solo show Wife on Earth) was performed at the
Hen & Chickens Theatre Bar in London, at the Kings Arms in Salford
(where it was shortlisted for the Best Spoken Word Performance at the
2021 Greater Manchester Fringe Festival), The Constitutional in Farsley, and Theatre @ 41 Monkgate in York.
I also revived my lecture about cartoons and friendship, PRONOUN TROUBLE, and the author event parody BOOKTALKBOOKTALKBOOK (performed
with Joanna Neary) went on the road: to York, London and Manchester
(where it was shortlisted for Best Comedy at the GMFF).
And upcomingly, Who Here's Lost? is at Brighton's Latest Music Bar on Wednesday December 15th, and in a Comedy Double Bill with Joanna Neary's Wife on Earth at The West End Centre in Aldershot on Thursday 16th December.
I'm also contributing a small bit about observing the weirdness around us to Robin Ince's Nine Lessons and Carols for Curious People at Kings Place in London on Friday 17th December.
Hopefully I'll be staging more shows next year.
I'll do a mailout if and when dates are confirmed, and information will always be posted on my Linktree.
As ever, I'm working on some new writing. Here's a tiny excerpt:
He
had a face that looked like someone's attempt to draw a face with their
wrong hand, but he had a surprising and sometimes disturbing warmth,
like a kitchen bin. On our walks, as he talked, he kept his hands in his
pockets - he called them his glove compartments. These were tricky
times for me, he knew; he observed that "every day is designed to make
you feel grateful but awkward, embarrassed and pleased, all at the same
time - that's why it's called the present." Another thing he said: "Big
Paul is the name of the dome, not the clock."
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BUT YOU HAVE TO JOIN THE
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FREE SHIPPING FOR
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SUBJECT AND I'LL SEND
YOU THE LINK.
A
few of my favourite books out of those I've read this year (not
necessarily published this year) have been (in no particular order):
Your Friend Forever by Zena Barrie
Sour Grapes by Dan Rhodes
Last Orgy Of The Divine Hermit by Mark Leyner
Laughing Torso by Nina Hamnett
When We Cease To Understand The World by Benjamin Labatut
Famous Men Who Never Lived by K. Chess
Piranesi by Susannah Clarke
Someone Who Will Love You In All Your Damaged Glory by Raphael Bob-Waksberg
Books maintain their three thousand-year streak of being just the best, and I am always delighted to receive any tip in return.
Books.
Some
of my most enjoyed films out of those I saw in 2021 were The French
Dispatch (directed by Wes Anderson), About Endlessness (Roy Andersson),
Saint Maud (Rose Glass), Cruella (Craig Gillespie), Phoenix and Barbara
(both Christian Petzold), Greener Grass (Jocelyn DeBoer & Dawn
Luebbe) and Charade (Stanley Donen).
TV
topness included Can't Get You Out Of My Head, Only Murders In The
Building, Evil, The White Lotus, Taskmaster New Zealand, and I Think You
Should Leave.
I
only saw a few things in the theatre, but I enjoyed Rare Earth Mettle,
Paul Currie and Joanna Neary's delightful puppet show for youngsters,
Stinky McFish And The World's Worst Wish.
But may I once again recommend the remarkable mentoring project Scene and Heard,
which partners children from Somers Town in London with volunteer
theatre professionals, and creates inspirational moments that change the
lives of young people and produces some of the funniest, most wonderful
shows you'll see.
This year the charity has grown and developed and you can support the amazing work they do by zipping to their website and acquiring a book of quotes from two decades of brilliant plays written by children and performed by professional actors.
You will laugh.
Musicwise, here's a EweToob Playlist of a few of my most enjoyed songs of 2021, not all of which were first released in 2021. (Trigger
Warning: some of the videos are music only or lyric video clips. One
includes colourful roller skaters, another contains a flustered Judy
Garland. There are X-Files parodies and lovely flowers. There is soul,
jazz, country and rock. These all make life better.)
So that's about it from me this year.
I do hope this one's not been overly awful for you, and let's hope now we're on the easy slide to awesome.
Please accept my early compliments for the season, and allow me to wish you an absolutely exceptional 2022.
Be excellent to each other.
love and peace!
benMOOR!
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