Its a Big Bright Beautiful World

Hey blog fans.

firs of all, apologies for the lack of updates. I think i'll be updating weekly now as it seems like there's just no freakin' time here to do anything by yourself.

Basically Ive been living at PUB(lications) shop and spreading the joy of graphic design.

4 days ago, Councilors in Training arrived (CITs) following their entrance to Buck's Rock came the children. The many noisy, over excited, hyperactive 24/7 children.

I had forgotten how completely full on Full-On-Teens can be.

We have our first PUB 24 hour event tomorrow (Sunday) where all attendees are going to make a complete comic book. My partners in crime Amanda and Vanessa are both supa designers from the future. so space cadets ahoy; we get designs done... yo.

All the people here at Buck's Rock are amazing!

Barnaby has made allot of new friends when he entered the pie eating contest. Less and Less people are being freaked out by him.

Im appreciating the time spent away from campers. Its good to chilax with creative peeps.

Tonight, i'm performing FREEZE RA Y from Dr Horrible infront of the whole camp. Im hoping it will go down well. *fingers crossed yo?*

Ad while i'm missing my peeps from Australia, im just having the most spectacular time here. I'll catch you all round soonish.

Fruit of the Moment: BBQ lunch on the lawn in the sun

Put on Your Sunday Clothes

Apparently, camp life is kinda full on.

I'm sorry to suggest it, but less frequent posts are an assured thing here at Buck's rock.

Since being welcomed by the rain (and even more rain) life has settled down. Im offically known as either Kenney to the Americans or Mr G to the international Staff.

Meals are sounded by the massive gong and Ive managed to enlist the assistance of a $9 alarm clock from our trip to WALLMART!!! (yes, it was an exciting night out for us Buck's Rock kind.) I managed to score some sneakers and a Lanyard for our Layout crew! I now feel at home because I have a name tag to wear.

My Muppet has been officially named Barnaby, and he has joined the staff here at Buck's Rock.

Im learning a lot about plates and how to really utilise CMYK colour, and its awesome. Im almost finnished with the camper's orientation handbook (It being Design and Layout's first big project before the kiddies arrive on Tuesday).

We had a whole staff challenge called Cutthroat Island yesterday and guess who manged to be the first camper out? Yes. Moi. It was okay tho, I got to watch eveyone else make a compelte fool of themselves.

We had the Coffee House performance night yesterday and I decided to give the "lunch is about the worst time of day for me" monolouge from Charlie Brown a spin. People thought it was awesome. I was so embarrised at the number of people who kept on coming up to tell me how great they thought I went... Even today, people were still giving thumbs up in passing. So I really cant express to you how awesome living with a whole lot of enthusiastically creative people actually is.

Been meeting alot of cool people and am working on remembering everyone's names.

The shop I work at is Publications or PUB for short. My layout buddy is Vanessa, my boss is emma and the print Guru is Bob. Today we filmed a parody of WILL IT BLEND? from Youtube for the camper's orientation VIDEO. It turned out a scream!

Tonight is the official 'Staff Party' and we get picked up in around an hour. Am interested in how long hicksville USA can cope with 150 odd drama peeps...

Camp is pretty much repedative here. So until I have something really interesting to note, i'll keep you all in the dark!

Fruit of the Moment: Purple Carrot Concentrate

Are you a Vegetarian?

Greetings from Buck's Rock!

I am totally here in the dining room and settled. The wi fi is switched on, and free for all until campers come, and then it will be password protected...

Hokay, so. Nothing much to report today except for the REAL holiday sleep-in!!! Also, it took 30 GOD DAM minutes on the corner of 7th Ave to get a taxi... IN THE RAIN with all my bags.

After all that, I managed to catch the connecting bus to go to CAMP! (traffic in New York was horrific due to the downpour)

I was put up in the FOUR SEASONS cabin (all cabins are named after fancy hotels) and apparently I got the best deal. We have a room with all the hot water/heating for the 2 story building. I call it the 'Warm Room' it is currently drying anything wet. It will be useful for drying clothes.

Ive met SO SO SO many people here. If dad can remember that unenthusiastic person I was talking about, they are still as unenthusiastic as ever (and confused at why so many camp councilors are so perky?!)

Above is a friend I made, Marion (also from Sydney) we had dinner at the same table and we shared internet geek stories. It was fun.

Anyway, a long day of nothing calls for a very boring post.

P.S. Vegetarianism is suiting me fine and dandy :)

Fruit of the Moment: SOYnut butter (yeah, you read right, OMG!!!)

Toxic Awakening

The Toxic Avenger Musical was the best piece of musical theatre I have seen in a very long time. A Rock comedy that tore the house down!

With the original director of Urinetown at the helm, and music from the peeps of LOVE YOU, PERFECT, CHANGE. What can go wrong?

It had me rocking in my seat from the first power chord to the last guitar solo band encore. The audience loved it, the cast loved it and after the show I got to meet the original Pennywise (who played the mayor in this show) who, had spotted me in my seat during the show. It appears I may have been making quite a racket in the third row.

The show is about a nerdy toxic waste super hero, in love with a blind librarian who needs to prevent a crooked mayor from continuing to turn New Jersey into a (larger) toxic waste dump.


The cast of 5 all had rockin' solos worthy of allot of woopin' and cheerin'. The two ensemble characters titled simply "black dude" and "white dude" starred as Mitch Mahoney in Spelling Bee and Sammy in Wedding Singer respectively.

I gotta note here that its off broadway. The sound was pumpin, the set was super slick. The lighting was freaking AMAZING. This show fucking rocked!

Fruit of the Moment: Bleach. Common Household Bleach

The Little Dissapointment

The Little Mermaid had very little to do with fantastic, despite the overuse of everything plastic. Do yourself a favor and ignore it.

The set, was of course the only awesome thing about this show. Not only was it visually exquisite, but each element was used in several ways... i.e. The sun above the water span around to become an underwater sculpture in king triton's palace, and then it span so the circle faced the floor and plastic diamonds popped out of it to create a chandelier. I could describe the other similar elements, but you get the picture.

The show itself was less than dazzling. What truly was laughable was Prince Eric (besides his errr.. unflattering white tights). Following a chase scene with the frech chef, Eric spent a romantic ballroom scene with the silent Ariel completely out of breath. I mean the works; heavy breathing and stunted dialogue. You'd think the actor would be able to anticipate it? Whatever.

OH! and meanwhile; the topless mermen/fish creatures? Can you say painted-Ab-on-Flab? pfft! very unpleasant (All of them). Stunning female ensemble tho.

Another unfortunate unavoidable deterrent was the theatre's balcony seating. It jots so far out, that i could only see half the stage as I was seated at the back of the floor seats (which was full price seating might i add)... This was okay, except when Eric's ship flew in. The ensemble scattered over the sails and masts were completely invisible to me.

And there were a sea of children. literally. About 40% adults id wager. But for a glorified pantomime, i should have expected it.

Fruit of the Moment: Mango slithers on a stick

Central Perkiness

An early start to head off to TKTS in chance to score a bargain for a little mermaid matinee. With my Venti Coffee Frappuccino in hand, i strode to the line 2 hours early to secure my spot. Turns out, the tickets were only 30% off. oh well, at least i'd get a good seat right? Wrong. (more later)

After a breakfast featuring my good friend bacon, i decide to head to Central Park. Here, i visit the Central Park Zoo. The Zoo was so tiny, it was shorter than Tuneil. (it was still longer than Kim).

A short trip up the park, and I managed to spy on a castle, a turtle pond and the Alice in Wonderland Tribute statue in todays happy snap. I lingered there for quite some time as there was this funky jazz band TIN PAN playing next to it. Toe tappin' awesomeness!

Anyhew, by the time I navigated my way back to the subway and 47th street, it was time for lunch and a matinee.

Fruit of the Moment: Dairy Free Vanilla Chai

Un Spirited

Blithe Spirit was a dutiful revival production with little creativity or thought to add to the original material.

Angela Lansbury delighted the crowds with her dottery old lady routine, while Rupert Everett seemed positively bored effortlessly sailing through an excellent portrayal of Charles.

The two wives were okay, however Elvira was as about as promiscuous as a filing cabinet.

Blithe Spirit is a play about a successful writer inviting a "medium" to his house under false pretenses for research on his new crime novel. What he doesn't expect is that the medium awakens a Spirit that ruffles even Charles' feathers.

The set was dreadfully dull and unimaginative, and the cast were often out of sinc with sound effects, Like they were responding to the sounds rather than the sounds responding to their movement.

And it was appalling but EVERY cast member stumbled their lines more than once... Even Rupert. EVEN Angela. The 2 act Coward play must be quite a mouthful.

Fruit of the Moment: "That Cheesey Thing we had for lunch yesterday; what was it?"

Customise your own Everything

Greetings from Tuesday.

Today, I managed a proper "sleep-in" as I wasn't required to rush for rush tickets. I tried a chicken and apple sausage on the side of my Muesli at this quaint cafe "Penelope's". It was really charming. (as was the waitress)


I decided to go Museum trekking today, and caught the subway like a pro up to 89th street. Here I visited the NY Institute of Design (which is where the red chair comes from). Following this was the Guggenheim Museum next door (which is where the swirl staircase above comes from). I then visited the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which had this funky rainbow wall above.

After a full on day of Museums, I decided it was time to get confident about food. So, I hopped over to GRAND CENTRAL and revisted the Cranberry Cafe. Im getting a pro at food, and now know theres no tax on drinks, only deli.

Following this was a tour of hyperventilation. I descovered not only the DISNEY STORE NY, but also the NY APPLE Store?!?!?!
It was seriously too much for me to take....

So I went back to FAO Schwarz. And if theres one thing thats in abundance in New York... its choice! There, I found the Muppet Workshop Build your own What-Not factory.

This is what I made. He doesnt have a name yet, but I hope to introduce him to Yellow class as soon as I return!

Meanwhile, my mate Mike from yesterday's Next to Normal Rush ticket line returned the favour from yesterday and used his student card to get me a cheap ticket to tonight's BLITHE SPIRIT. So im off after this post!

Fruit of the Moment: Vanilla Pudding (which is what they call custard here, apparently)

Next to Awesomeness

Next to normal is anything but normal. A soul punching, heart wrenching, slide splitting roller-coaster of emotion.

From start to finish, this show held me without letting go and shook me in my $25 rush seating.

Alice Ripley really is FEIRCE. We had the AMAZING understudy for the husband Dan. Natalie and Henry were superb. But the standout was Kyle Massey playing GABE. Just a knock out, both on the eyes and the ears. This was a rock musical and he ROCKED.

The show revolved around mother DIANA's mental breakdown over her family.

There hasn't been a show that's moved me this much since BLOOD BROTHERS. I was an emotional wreck come the closing of act one and don't even mention act two...

This is a ground breaking show that deserved all acclaim headed its way. Why it didnt get the Tony, I'll never know. The best so far on Broadway.

Fruit of the Moment: 2lb fruit salad for dinner

A very busy birthday

Greetings from above. I had to make sure I really got the most out of my sister's birthday today (Happy Birthday!!!) So i went on TOURIST STEROIDS?!

I got up at early holidaying time of 7:30am so i could line up for NEXT TO NORMAL rush tickets. In line, i met a nice chap Mike from the middle of the country who is holidaying in NY with his sister Mindy and her fiancee. Since he could only get one extra rush ticket, I helped out and got the fiancee one aswell. We are all in a private box for this evening's performance!

Meanwhile, hes returning the favour by buying ME a student rush ticket for Blithe Spirit. (most shows only have student rush tickets)

RUSH TICKET: a ticket you pay $21.50 for, purchased on the same day of the performance. Often with crappy seating. Available with very few shows unless you're a studnent.


From here, I visited the New York Museum of Natural History. All I could think about as I traveled through 4 enormous levels was how much Glen would be geeking out at well, almost everything...

I even took the SUBWAY all by MYSELF! I was so proud.

I met these awesome guys Phil and Adrian in Times Square pushing pamphlets for a new musical, and we had lunch together at the Cranberry Cafe. They turned out to be an item, and bickered healthily through our lunch.

I asked Adrian if she knew where Mangolias was and she launched into her love afair with their Vanilla red velvet cupcakes.


So after sayin goodbye, I hoped across to the Rockafella Centre and purchased 2 Vanilla Red Velvets and hand delivered them to the pair to thank them for inviting me on their lunch break and to celebrate my sister's birthday! HAPPY BIRTHDAY HUZAH!

I then returned to Rockafella Centre and took the official tour. It was awesome! The guide Vivian wouldn't stop talking about me and sydney and how we 'HAVE to visit here for Kenney' and 'as an australian YOU would appreciate' It was quite endeering. The sight see on the TOP OF THE ROCK was amazing.


It unfortunely BUCKETED down on my way home to the hotel and I sought refuge in a second hand VINTAGE fashion centre. I alomst lost myself in excitement. Jen, you would adore it! It was period costume heaven!

Anyhew, im off for NEXT TO NORMAL with Mike and Mindy.

Fruit of the Moment; Yogurt-Coated-Pretzels!

Two Nobodies in New York

OMG! I found a friend in New York?!?! Courtney and I spent an amazingly awesome day together...

We had breakfast at the University Cafe (it wasn't actually at a uni, but insisted everything on the menu have an academia theme) and I had OMG pancakes... The bacon on the side made me remember what food tastes like.

I have not been eating really over here, as I've been well too busy to and too lonely to sit by myself in a restaurant. Well, our breakfast changed all this. I even had this AMAZING tall red glass of water and ice. It was really really nice. Seriously, the water here is just like Sydney. Actually, I think it tastes better. (Which is more than i can say for the smell of the streets)

We did some pretty awesome traveling around. I USED THE SUBWAY?!?! arrghh! it was a maze of confusing dots and numbers. I decided to leave it up to her PINKNESS to decide our journey. We went on the free Staten Island Ferry, and had a cool view of the Statue of Liberty.


We went the Brooklyn (the funky newtownish part) and visited the really nice Brooklyn Bagel Shop. Where you will all be glad to note, I tasted a bite of my first New York Bagel!

From here, We managed to visit this really AMAZINGLY cool toy store: FAO Schwarz. I had multiple orgasims as each floor gave way to exceedingly cool toys. I was like a kid in a candy store. Literaly.

Realising it was approaching 3pm and my Matinee, we dashed across town. Which was hard as it was Portorrican Day (like Australia Day) but with an enourmous fuck off parrade running down 5th Avenue, preventing anyone actually 'dashing' across it.

I still managed my matinee, and details are below.

Meanwhile, ive been making a habbit of taking off my shoes during a performance. Its
a) comfortable for someone dashing around town in boots, and
b) I can curl my socked feet around the chair legs infront.

Fruit of the Moment? Warm Blueberry Bagel

Avenue Queue

Avenue Q was YAY!

From the crappy animated opening, to the very cool set, GIANT Kate monster, to the exceptionally handsome Princeton/Rod. This was one top quality show to see.

It didn't have spectacle, and the show is a little bit one idea BUT it surpassed my expectations, and I found myself laughing at so many gags I already knew where coming.

Trekie performer looked like an original cast member who was overly bored onstage, while the lead looked a little too happy to be up on stage. I noted in the program its his Broadway debut.

Gary Coleman didn't reach the high note in shardenfreuder, but had this amazing slide vocal thingy she did in its place. OH! and the "even tho they're based on truth" part in racist was whispered, and the music was turned down. It made me lose it.

Im off to check out the Howie Michael Smith website. he he he.

Fruit of the Moment; Apple Juice in a can

Agast! at the county

August: Osage County is the kind of play which requires the audience to invest in act 1 to thoroughly enjoy acts 2 & 3.

The players were superb, especially the relationship between the mother and her sister.

The doll house set, while a little distracting at times was quite effective in the end.

The script could get dull at times, and the pay offs were too few to ignore the lulls.

Basically, the first character you meet goes missing, and when you find out he has died, the whole family comes together and slowly they all destroy each other.

A solid performance tho, and i was glad to FINALLY be able to discuss the performance with the person sitting next to me. Something i'm finding is a hard thing to do here with strangers.

Fruit of the moment? Herb Lemon Dressing

Waiting for Act 2

Waiting for Godot was a mixed bag.

The set was underwhelming, yet functional.
The cast are a marvel to watch
Act one is such a bore I had to sleep off my boredom in interval.
Act two is alive with the slapstick Godot was made for. A thing of beauty...

Lucky's 3 page monologue had alota gumption. But the standout was of course Nathan Lane. His breakdown after hearing "we're waiting for Godot" for the 17th time was spot on Max Bialystock hissyfit gold.

So, not overly recommended (especially if you have legs, as the builders assumed no one had when they installed their seating)

Fruit of the Moment? Dried Cranberry

No one likes the WICKED?!

Wicked was simply amazing. I seriously couldn't flaw it. With everyone saying how awful it was, I wasn't expecting whatever i got! Which must of been an awesome performance, the cast were ELECTRIC!

It helps that I had all the cast members. No stand ins.

The ensemble were simply mesmorising, the music and performers made it their own with just the right amount of variation.

and the house was sold out. This helps...

The only thing that did let me down is the ensemble in the opening number... they didn't have enough VOLUME. but then again, they cant crank the CD up in the car to max volume. Just amazing.

Gavin will be relieved to know the monkeys hooked up Glinda to her bubble in the finale with NINJA like stealth...

Fruit of the moment? VENTI COFFEE FRAPPACHINO!!!!

SHREK: the verdict

Shrek, the musical based on the movie was a big surprise for me. Even without Sutton Foster...

Amongst the over abundance of toilet humor and contrast in big budget set with $2 junk store props, there was a heart to the show that really sent out a nice message.

"being different makes people special"

I laughed so hard when donkey pointed out that when they crossed the bridge, it was also like a metaphorical bridge symbolising their friendship. Of course, i was the only one laughing at that point.

So it wasn't strange for me to immediately place my producer hat on, to figure out how to accomplish the difficult set pieces on the Rockdale stage.

Fav moment? When the cast finnished the big dance break and I was less than 30cms away from one guys head in his floor finish pose. He breathing sugested he wasnt looking forward to getting up to to the exit dance.

If you're in NY, go to M&M building, get yourself a $27 ticket and enjoy the very front straining your neck row! Its a big bright beautiful wor-orld!

p.s. one of the cast members kept looking at me. I noticed it was the same one as I usually pick up on ensemble breaking character (which btw happened alot in this show)... I figured he was looking at my yoda tshirt, which got alot of comments today when out and about. So yeah.

Fruit of the Moment: Granola (which apperently is a fruit here)

Its apparently easy being green

After waking myself up before my alarm clock could, i had one goal in mind:
HALF PRICE BROADWAY TICKETS.

So, I walk from W 17th street all the way to W 47 street... Which is more than your garden variety walk down George street.

Alas! no matinees today. However I found a three story store dedicated to M&Ms


This was one of the walls on level number 2. I manage to enter myself in the SHREK MUSICAL LOTTERY on the 'green' level 3 and score myself $26 front row tickets for tonight's show!

I decide to reward my good fortune with an inquiry at the GERSHWIN theatre as to WICKED ticket availability... not surprisingly the show is all but sold out. So i didn't mind paying a full price ticket for tomorrow's matinee. I could have risked the cheaper prices for their LOTTERY, but it could have left me OZless...


In place of a Matinee, I decide to watch PIXAR's new film UP! In 3D! On 42nd Street! It was awesome. And with a few tourist-y visits to

• Macy's
• 42nd Street
• Starbucks
  
• Ripley's Believe it or Not (see above photo of an albino giraffe)
  
• NYC Library and
• Barnes & Nobel
  

I wore out my feet and needed a recharge.

Fruit of the Moment? Kiwi Green

San Fran Arrival

Generally, i wouldn't recommend spending over 24 hours traveling on planes and im not going to change my opinion now either!

Arriving in San Fran, I had 3 hours to find internet access and book hotels. All of which i achieved. Strange that I should forget eating...

Our 6 hour (non meal) flight was boarded at 1:50 and took off at 3pm, which meant
a) all us sheep were stuck in our seats for over an hour and
b) we got into NY 1 1/2 hours late
all because of bad weather.

Luckily, the hotel sold nuts.

Fruit of the moment? Berries-at-the-bottom Yogurt

Baby's First Mugging

I have JUST arrived in New York, arrived safely but was charged $180 for Cab fare to the hotel. or rather, the cab driver stole $1oo off me. SO; hooray for incompetence on my behalf!

Im staying at a rather kitsch hotel in lower Manhattan called HOTEL SEVENTEEN.
http://hotel17ny.com/

pfft! im going to bed.

Fruit 'o the Moment: Sucker

At San Fran

Hey Guys!

First Post. I have only JUST sorted all my NYC hotels, with 1 hour of spare time in SAN FRAN domestic Airport...

Now they have called my name 3 times for boarding! Gotta RUN!!!!!

*sigh* another 6 hours before NYC.

Fruit of the moment? ROCKMELLON