The Pirates of Penzance

Hallo everyone! :D

How are you? You good? Hmm? Coolio. :P

Well, I believe I told you that I'm in The Pirates of Penzance. I just checked the blog, I just mentioned that I auditioned. XP Silly me, silly me.

 Yeah, so, I'm in the Ladies Chorus for The Pirates Of Penzance. So far we've done about four rehearsals, and so far I'm the only one who knows all of their parts for the songs off book. :3 I'm feeling immensely proud of myself. X3
 I have a rehearsal again tomorrow, which will also have a couple of the principle actors down to practice with us. It will be great getting to sing with them, I went to their rehearsal yesterday and some of them sounded great.

 Now, I suppose some of my readers, (or maybe all of them?) are wondering what on earth the Pirates of Penzance is. Wikipedia says:
"The Pirates of Penzance; or, The Slave of Duty is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert. The opera's official premiere was at the Fifth Avenue Theatre in New York City on 31 December 1879, where the show was well received by both audiences and critics.^[1] Its London debut was on 3 April 1880, at the Opera Comique, where it ran for 363 performances, having already been playing successfully for over three months in New York.
The story concerns Frederic, who, having completed his 21st year, is released from his apprenticeship to a band of tender-hearted pirates. He meets Mabel, the daughter of Major-General Stanley, and the two young people fall instantly in love. Frederic finds out, however, that he was born on 29 February, and so, technically, he only has a birthday each leap year. His apprenticeship indentures state that he remains apprenticed to the pirates until his 21st birthday, and so he must serve for another 63 years.^[2] Bound by his own sense of duty, Frederic's only solace is that Mabel agrees to wait for him faithfully.
Pirates was the fifth Gilbert and Sullivan collaboration and introduced the much-parodied Major-General's Song. The opera was performed for over a century by the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company in Britain and many other opera companies and repertory companies worldwide.
It has received several modernised productions, including Joseph Papp's 1981 production on Broadway, which ran for 787 performances, winning the Tony Award for Best Revival and the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Musical, and spawned many imitations. Pirates remains popular today, taking its place along with The Mikado and H.M.S. Pinafore as one of the most frequently played Gilbert and Sullivan operas."

(Sorry, I was feeling too lazy to write all that in my own words for you. :P)

 A Broadway production of The Pirates of Penzance was then made into a movie (which I mean to watch at some point.... XD). Snippets of it can be found on youtube - however, if you want to watch the movie, your best bet will be to go to your local library and borrow it from there.

 (I seriously can't wait for when I get to perform in this song! XDDDD)

However, it is possible to find recordings of The Pirates of Penzance from as early as the 1920s. My dad's favourite recording he has found is from a production in 1929. However, there are also recordings from 1949 and 1957 which sound Ok.
 Pirates of Penzance, 1929
 Pirates of Penzance, 1949
 Pirates of Penzance, 1957

 And I just found a video of a song from the movie of Pirates of Penzance - It's so hilarious! It's not actually in the score, so all I can assume is that it was written for the this production of pirates. Anyway, here's the song:

Can you not just listen to that without dying of laughter? XD

Well, I must go, I have some more shtuff to do, so I'll leave the post with this.
Good night, Good morning, etc, and all the other things.
Spinj xoxo

Op-Shopping

Hey Guys! Guess who's back! :D

 Yup, you got it right. Spinj's back. With another post. But don't worry, it's not about knitting, or about music. :P It's about op-shopping.

 I'm not sure how similar my follower's views are to mine, but did you ever go into an op-shop with friends or family and think that op-shops weren't any good - it's a place for old grannies and granddads to go shopping? That was what I thought about op-shops. Until about 2012, when I went into an op-shop and came out with a really good pair of roller-blades for only fifteen dollars.

 Well, I went to an op-shop to get a green top for a cosplay outfit of mine, and I was really pleased with it. So then I thought what if the clothes I prefer to buy can be found at op-shops? So now I've been looking at op-shops to find everyday clothes.

 I've been successful, too. I went to two different op-shops this week, and after searching for a while found two really nice things:

So on the left we have the black jumper-vest thing that I found in a Salvos Store. It was only seven dollars, and a really good bargain too. It fits me nicely.

 On the right is the old-fashioned I found in Good Sammies. Normally they sell their dresses for eight dollars, but they were trying to get rid of their summer stuff because they were getting loads of winter stock, so they were selling all their dresses for only two dollars each! I would've looked for longer, too, and tried to find some more stuff, but I had to get home.

 My BFF goes to op-shops all the time, she spends several hours in them. She's also got some really cool stuff from them, too. She got a small watch that looks like it has some gemstones in it (She's off to get it checked...), a leather bag with an old horse bit from on it (for those who don't know, the bit is part of the headgear used in riding - it's put in the horse's mouth). I believe she even found a platinum ring in one.
 She and I have organized a two and a half day sleepover, and I chatted to her yesterday wondering what we could do. We've decided to go op-shopping and go to see Cinderella! Should be really cool. Apparently the op-shops up her way must have some pretty cool stuff in them...

 Well, I must be off, I have music to do and a circus class to go to, plus I'm making tonight's dinner.

 Sparkles and Cupcakes!
Spinj xoxo

Knitting and Music

Hey guys!

 How are you all?

 So last time my blog post was about knitting - I put up some patterns and stuff. Well, today I'm doing what I did with my Ninjago Monday post - I'm mixing up a Music Monday with something else I really like - knitting!

 So how did you all like the patterns? They're pretty cool, aren't they? I can't wait to get on to some more of them - just one more pair of fingerless mittens before I can move on. Next I'll probably do the Corset Gloves, because they look really awesome. :D

 Three of my friends asked me to make them some of the fingerless mittens, so I've been working hard to make them some. :) The first pair were purple, but I hadn't followed the pattern properly - I missed some of the instructions. :/ Thankfully my friend didn't mind. Second pair were blue, and they were made following the pattern word-for-word I kept double checking the pattern. :P Here's a photo of the gloves:

Model: myself Photographer: my brother

They took about four days to make, which I was quite pleased about. I also managed to sew up over half of the left glove without a sewing needle. It was hard, but I managed it!

Now for the music side of things! :D

So, as I mentioned in the last post, I've been listening to Lindsey Stirling. Her music is amazing, it's really impressive. I've been obsessing over it - well, her music and The Fold's music.
 So the song I'm going to recommend for you all to listen to is 'Shatter Me'. It's a really good song, featuring Lzzy Hale.

Plus it has a really cool music video. ;P

 Also, I've been wanting to get back into playing violin, and listening to Lindsey's stuff is rather inspiring. I can't wait for our bow to get rehaired!

I gotta go now, my school work starts in twenty minutes. :)

 Catch you all around!
Spinj xoxo

Knitting

Hey guys! :D

 How are you all? :D Have you had a good week?

 It's been forever since I posted on here! D: I've been really busy with school, music, rehearsals and other stuff that getting on here is a little hard!

 Anyway, so in the little spare time I have these days, I've been doing some knitting! I love to knit, I find it relaxing, and I can carry it around with me to places. Plus it's relatively easy to knit and watch a movie, or something else. :P

So, I thought I'd share some stuff for you guys to check out!

I've been searching the Web for some cool, free patterns to knit. I've came across quite a few, so I'll show you my favourites.

 Recently I came across this really cool pattern for Fingerless Mittens. I was searching for fingerless gloves originally, but I couldn't find any, and made do with these. They're really warm and comfy, and look great with a knitted beanie in the same colour!
 I also came across some Punk Rock Corset Gloves. I adore them, they look so cool, and the minute I finish knitting fingerless mittens for my friends I'll be making these!
 Then I came across this really cool bag - a Musical Knit Lunch Bag! Of course, it doesn't just have to hold your lunch - it could hold something else! Maybe some pencils or school/music related stuff?
 It's getting into Winter here, and I found this super duper amazing Chunky Arm Knit Blanket. It looks really cool to make, it'll certainly keep me warm if I was to make it. All I have to do is buy super chunky yarn! :D :P
 Lastly, I've given up my loombands - they have something in them that causes cancer - I can't remember the details though. And then I came across these awesome Band Cuffs! They look really cute and fresh, so I'm going to knit myself a ton of them to wear with some of my outfits. :)

 If you're a beginner at knitting, or haven't done any before, you'll probably want to check out these before you try to make some of the above:

•  How to Knit
•  Knitting for Beginners - Instructions
• 9 Free Knitting Patterns For Beginners
•  25 Free Beginner Knitting Patterns

And if you like to knit whilst listening to music, I'd recommend Lindsey Stirling. I really like her stuff. :) Otherwise, you know, listen to something that you find is relaxing or doesn't distract you.
Have a picture:

Oooh, look, it's Unikitty! :D


Well, I have to go, have some chores to do and then I'm off to town. Have a great day guys, hope you like the patterns and if you make anything, let me know!

Rainbows and Clouds,
Spinj xoxo