Matt Charlton

On the way to Nandos tonight I heard the news on the radio that a few of the MJ concert tickets had been postponed and that emails had been sent out informing customers as such.  I hadn’t received an email but Jamie has – that’s not great, especially when you look at the information given here:

Rescheduling Information

Due to the sheer magnitude of the “This Is It” concerts at the O2 Arena promoters and producers AEG Live and Kenny Ortega, Michael’s directorial partner and creative collaborator have elected to move back a few of the opening shows in order to meet the challenges presented by such a massive and technically complex show.
Organisers are determined that all Michael’s legions of fans attending the opening nights get the same quality of staging and level of entertainment. Only the four shows listed here are affected:

·     8th July will take place on 13th July 2009
·     10th July will be moved to 1st March 2010
·     12th July will be moved to 3rd March 2010
·     14th July will be moved to 6th March 2010

“Kenny and Michael are, at the same time, both creative pioneers and perfectionists. This show has grown in size and scope, thereby, necessitating more lead time for manufacture of the set, programming the content for the massive video elements, and, most importantly, more time for full production and dress rehearsals in the world’s busiest arena, the O2. As much as we agonized over this change in the original schedule, we are sure the fans will understand when they experience the level of entertainment Michael Jackson intends to deliver while also ensuring the safety of the musicians, cast and crew and the crisp execution of the production. It is AEG Live’s sincere hope that those lucky enough to have purchased tickets will have enough time to change their personal schedules and travel plans if they are coming from outside of London. We do not want anyone to miss this once-in-a-lifetime experience.”

Frequently Asked Questions

Q:  Can I have a refund or exchange my tickets?
A:  Yes, anybody who cannot make the rescheduled dates for any reason will get a full refund of the ticket and booking fee. Customers who booked with Ticketmaster will be contacted directly and offered an exchange to the new shows or a refund

Q:  I will attend the new rescheduled event date. Is my seat location still valid?
A:  You will have the same seat originally purchased.

Q:  How can I speak to someone at Ticketmaster regarding my order?
A:  Please call Ticketmaster’s Customer Support Team on 0844 277 9982. The lines are open Monday to Friday from 9.00am to 8.00pm and Saturday and Sunday from 10.00am to 4.00pm. International Customers please call +44 (0)161 385 2111.

Q:  My event date is affected. Will my ticket have the newly rescheduled date on it?
A:  Fans that are able to attend the rescheduled dates will be issued tickets with the new date printed on it.

Q:  Can tickets be sent to a different address?
A:  Unfortunately, for security reasons Ticketmaster will only dispatch tickets to the billing address of the card used to pay for the tickets. This procedure is in place as credit/debit card fraud is on the increase with telephone and internet bookings and is there to protect the card holder. All policies relating to the collection of tickets is agreed between Ticketmaster and the venue/promoter to reduce incidence of credit/debit card fraud.

Q:  How can I check the confirmation of my Ticketmaster booking?
A: You can check the details of your booking by:
1.     Viewing “My Account” on line* at Ticketmaster
2.     By calling the Ticketmaster 24hr order confirmation telephone line on 0870 242 4442
(*Please note this facility is only available for online bookings).
You will need your booking reference number or the credit card number used at the time of purchase.

Q: Can I go to any of the other dates earlier than March 2010?

A: At this time all dates are sold out other than for a few remaining Hospitality packages.

Q: Why has the first night been rescheduled 5 days later and we have to wait until March 2010?

A: This is due to technical reasons and to ensure that all fans get to experience the same level of quality and entertainment.

Q: Will any other shows be affected?
A: We are confident that these will be the only changes to the shows.

Q:  My travel plans have been disrupted. Will I be compensated for loss transportation bookings and hotel?
A: Unfortunately Ticketmaster is not responsible for accommodation and transportation reimbursement.

Q:  When will I receive my tickets?
A:  Tickets may not be dispatched until closer to the event. Ticketmaster aims to dispatch tickets as soon as possible. We are not able to be specific with exact dates of dispatch. Please allow as much time as possible for your tickets to arrive.
If your tickets have not arrived five days before the show or, if you are travelling, five days before you leave, please contact Ticketmaster directly using the “Ask a Question” facility at Ticketmaster. Please include your reference number and the name and postcode the booking is under. Ticketmaster only posts tickets to the billing address of a credit card. If the address in your booking does not correspond to that held by your credit card company, we may cancel your tickets.

Michael, who is directly involved with all aspects of the styling/choreography/band selection and rehearsals, is working around the clock to ensure this is the show to end all shows!
Kenny Ortega, Michael’s directorial partner and creative collaborator said, “After directing the Dangerous and HIStory tours, I know what the fans expect and myself and the team want to deliver a flawless production. We apologise to all disappointed Michael Jackson fans and remain extremely dedicated and focused on creating an exceptional live music experience.”

FULL LIST OF DATES:
·     13TH JULY 2009*
·     16TH JULY 2009
·     18TH JULY 2009
·     22ND JULY 2009
·     24TH JULY 2009
·     26TH JULY 2009
·     28TH JULY 2009
·     30TH JULY 2009
·     1ST AUGUST 2009
·     3RD AUGUST 2009
·     10TH AUGUST 2009
·     12TH AUGUST 2009
·     17TH AUGUST 2009
·     19TH AUGUST 2009
·     24TH AUGUST 2009
·     26TH AUGUST 2009
·     28TH AUGUST 2009
·     30TH AUGUST 2009
·     1ST SEPTEMBER 2009
·     3RD SEPTEMBER 2009
·     6TH SEPTEMBER 2009
·     8TH SEPTEMBER 2009
·     10TH SEPTEMBER 2009
·     21ST SEPTEMBER 2009
·     23RD SEPTEMBER 2009
·     27TH SEPTEMBER 2009
·     29TH SEPTEMBER 2009
·     7TH JANUARY 2010
·     9TH JANUARY 2010
·     12TH JANUARY 2010
·     14TH JANUARY 2010
·     16TH JANUARY 2010
·     18TH JANUARY 2010
·     23RD JANUARY 2010
·     25TH JANUARY 2010
·     27TH JANUARY 2010
·     29TH JANUARY 2010
·     1ST FEBRUARY 2010
·     3RD FEBRUARY 2010
·     8TH FEBRUARY 2010
·     10TH FEBRUARY 2010
·     12TH FEBRUARY 2010
·     16TH FEBRUARY 2010
·     18TH FEBRUARY 2010
·     20TH FEBRUARY 2010
·     22ND FEBRUARY 2010
·     24TH FEBRUARY 2010
·     1ST MARCH 2010*
·     3RD MARCH 2010*
·     6TH MARCH 2010*

Look at the dates – the first one has been rescheduled for 5 days later, which isn’t a big deal, the other dates (including the one that Jamie has booked) has been put back to March next year.  That’s crazy!

The bit that gets me is the travel arrangements/hotel booking situation.  Jamie is lucky, he was going to drive down anyway – people will have booked train tickets and hotel rooms.  Train tickets that aren’t refundable (the advance ones generally aren’t).  I didn’t book any train tickets when they were released because they were too expensive.  I do have the hotel booked, but this is booked on a credit card and should anything happen I *think* that I’m covered for a refund (the hotel booking is changeable/cancellable anyway).  I know that situations such as this one are unavoidable, but when you take into account the location of the concerts combined with people booking hotels as soon as they managed to get their hands on the concert tickets themselves it’s going to cause a lot of problems.

I know that you can either have a refund or an exchange on the tickets, but still – that doesn’t help the people with booked hotels/trains.

It’ll be interesting to see how this affects the ticket touts on ebay, selling tickets to people in the USA and things – serves you right you greedy bastards :p

This review will not contain any spoilers.

So, last night I decided that I really wanted to go and see Star Trek.  If we weren’t visiting Sue’s parents in York I would have been going with Jamie and Lou tonight at the very nice VUE in Leeds.  There’s a VUE in York (it used to be a Warner Bros cinema) so I decided that I really wanted to go.  I fancied a quiet seating so set my sights on the 11:30 showing.  Sue really didn’t like this idea, I was all set for going on my own – she really wanted to come with me so we decided on the 9:30 showing instead which was on a smaller screen.

The cinema itself was fairly poor, past the fairly grand lobby we walked through the door to screen 6 which might well have been a wormhole to 1989 – terrible seats, terrible layout and a really strange cup holder on the back of the seat in front of you that sat at a 45 degree angle.  The armrests were wooden!!

The cinema was nowhere near half full – there were maybe 30 people in there, there was a showing at 8:30 so a lot of people would have been in for that, it was a bigger screen too.  The floor was lino and was sloped downwards towards the front of the auditorium, a couple that had plonked themselves on the end of our row accidently dropped the 1l cup of coke on the floor, it rapidly spread to the underside of the seats in front and people were jumping up moving seats all over the place.  Pre show entertainment ftw!

Thankfully, once the droll of adverts had finished and we got into the trailers (Drag me to hell, Harry Potter, Terminator Salvation) I soon forgot about the seats and the surroundings.  Once the film started, even more so.

I’d heard some very good things about the film before I went in – pre release reviews and comments on twitter from people like Jonathan Ross had all been positive.  It was hyped up to the max, J.J Abrams had done a fantastic job, they said.

The biggest problem with a film being hyped like this is that you go into the cinema with heightened expectations – if the film isn’t fantastic, it can be very disappointing.  Thankfully, this wasn’t the case at all.

The pace from the outset is fast and exciting, the musical score seemed to be a little lacking in places but it wasn’t really noticable – I’ll pick that up more on the next viewing.

Weighing in at just over 2 hours in length it was one of those films where you really don’t feel the time at all – I knew I’d been watching it for an hour or so, I was willing it to carry on forever more – it was that good I could have watched a 3/4 hour epic.  I’m not sure Sue would agree with me, we’re lucky if she can make it through a 2 hour film without a trip to the loo!

The cast worked really well.  Chris Pine didn’t try to emulate Shatner, which is good – he tried to concentrate on the more rebellious and youthful side – it worked well and he made a good leaading man.  Zachary Quinto played Spock really well – never once did I think “Oh – there’s Sylar”.  Considering we’ve seen him on our television screens in that role for 4+ years this was no mean feat.

The stealer of the show for me is a toss up between Karl Urban playing Dr. “Bones” McCoy and Simon Pegg playing Scotty.  Urban has all of the mannerisms that Deforrest Kelly did so well – I was really impressed.  Pegg makes a believable Scotsman and you can really see elements of the original cast there.

The fact that I spent nearly all of the 2 hours 7 minutes with a giant grin on my face tells you I enjoyed it – it had me giggling in parts. There were also quite a few emotional scenes which nearly had me in tears.

To someone that has always considered himself more Jedi than Trekkie it was impressive – I never really got into the Original Series, the Next Generation was more my game.  I liked the Star Trek 1-6 films, but original series wise I wasn’t too interested – I might have to pick up series 1 when it hits blu ray.

I spent some time whilst the credits were rolling thinking to myself as to whether or not this was the best film I’d ever seen.  The Dark Knight last year held that mantle as far as I was concerned, after seeing Star Trek I think we definately have a new contender.  The plot, flow, humour, actions, effects and cast are flawless.  I can’t wait for a sequel.

Go and see it.  Now.

Kirk Out.

I warn you now, if you have sensitive ears, you may want to navigate away now.

We went around to Andrew and Zoe’s last night – it was most enjoyable, singstar parties are always so much more fun when theres a Flip camcorder involved.

I don’t proclaim to be the best singer in the world but I can hold a tune – as long as it doesn’t go too high, if it gets a little high I have to drop an octave, if I forget to do that I get very loud and very high (and it sounds naff!).  You’ll see examples here of me singing a song I’m comfortable with and several that I’m not.

Matt and Zoe sing “The Calling – Wherever you will go”.  I’m singing on Medium to make it a little harder for me   This is probably my favorite song to sing at the moment as far as Singstar is concerned.

Andrew and Matt do Britney

Next up we have Andrew singing Shane Ward – That’s my goal.  The video is in three parts but is totally worth it!

Lastly we have Andrew doing some kind of video tour with the Flip whilst Sue and I sing Sonia – Never stop me loving you, a horrible song

Like Angel and Firefly, it would appear that Joss Whedon’s latest show “Dollhouse” is headed for cancellation.

Fox have decided that they won’t be airing episode 13 of the series and will finish on 12.  It’s looking rather bleak for season 2. 

I’m very disappointed.  Angel was one of my favorite shows of all time and had the chance to go for a few more seasons like Buffy before it.  Firefly was also good, made better by the big screen outing Serenity. 

Dollhouse was still in it’s infancy – the story and characters are still developing and it had the chance to work its way into something really clever. 

With any luck Joss Whedon is pretty much at the end of his Fox contract and he can go to a network that will give his shows a chance and schedule them with a little more forethought. 

Felicia Day who was due to appear in episode 13 dropped the news on twitter. 

In the last 20 minutes there have been thousands of comments about the cancellation and people urging Fox to reconsider. 

Further reading:

http://blog.zap2it.com/korbitv/2009/04/dollhouse-episode-13-will-not-air.html

Jamie says:
 lol
 i swear my mouth is turning into abspestos

Matt says:
 is that like asbestos?

Jamie says:
 had hot bugger and half chick hot last nite and wasnt that hot, just had zinger and that wasnt hot either

Matt says:
 maybe like an italian pasta wall filling
 a hot buggering?
 I’m trying to stop myself from laughing out loud here

Jamie says :
 yes i cant spell

Matt says :
 glad I didn’t go with you if you had a bugger

Jamie says :
 HAHAHA
 i only just notice that

Matt says:
 I’m giggling

Jamie says:
 i need putting out to pasture

Matt says:
 if this were irc, that’d be on the wall of fame thingy

Matt says :
 In fact, that’s so good I’m going to blog it