Hello my neglected blog.
So still not many things out of the ordinary are occuring here, we've had less cancelled shows over the last few weeks. Unfortunatelt though a few days ago my collapsing lamppost stunt was condemned by the park maintanence crew as the hinges have finally given up the ghost (we all saw this coming due to the flimsy nature of the metal that had been used), problem is no-one knows when it'll be fixed so for now it's been secured in the upright position and instead of falling towards the crowd i simply slide down it. Boring i know but there is no other way down from the balcony where I make my entrance.
In a couple of weeks Jason (Wolverine) returns to England for about a week for his brothers wedding. This leaves the rest of us with no days off until his return so it's going to be a tough finish to the high season. After that though we're into September which sees the park closing for 3 days a week for the 2nd, 3rd and last week of the month. This is when many people are going travelling and sight-seeing, the two American girls have booked themselves a trip to good old England and Phil (Magneto) has also booked some foreign adventures. I'm personally looking forward to September as my Brother and Sister-in-law are coming out to visit which is great. I wont be leaving Germany in this time but might get the chance to explore a bit more of it :-)
Anyways, thats a few weeks away yet so for now we're knuckling down and keeping the 3 shows a day pace. I'm going to a gig in Oberhausen tomorrow to see Slade, that should be fantastic :-D
Till next time!
P.
Friday 13 August 2010
Sunday 8 August 2010
Rainy Day Post.
Alright everybody.
So its been a good few days, we were celebrating just the other night as Ocean, cheif Shaolin, became the father of a little boy back in China :-) Both Mum and Child are fit and well and Ocean can't wait to go home and see him! So yeah, we had a massive party it was the first time we've really socialised all together, the Chinese guys often say they can't afford to go to bars etc with us so it was nice to party in the house and generally get along with each other. I'm sure some photos will emerge that a few of us may regret, it was a good party!
Currently we have Brad (one of the high-ups for Mirage) and a film crew recording the shows and tomorrow we expect to film some special shots inbetween the shows. Mirage always manage to put a good looking promo-reel together so I look forward to seeing what they do with the footage they've collected so far plus tomorrows activities whatever they may be.
high season continues to provide us with large Audiences most of the time, the weather has become quite unpredictable with heavy showers and storms between bright sunshine and blue skies, people never seem to be deterred from visiting the park though, didn't realise it was such a popular attraction.
That about wraps it up for now, soon i'll be able to tell you about the filming we're doing tomorrow and what extra stunts or fight scenes we might be required to do!
P.
So its been a good few days, we were celebrating just the other night as Ocean, cheif Shaolin, became the father of a little boy back in China :-) Both Mum and Child are fit and well and Ocean can't wait to go home and see him! So yeah, we had a massive party it was the first time we've really socialised all together, the Chinese guys often say they can't afford to go to bars etc with us so it was nice to party in the house and generally get along with each other. I'm sure some photos will emerge that a few of us may regret, it was a good party!
Currently we have Brad (one of the high-ups for Mirage) and a film crew recording the shows and tomorrow we expect to film some special shots inbetween the shows. Mirage always manage to put a good looking promo-reel together so I look forward to seeing what they do with the footage they've collected so far plus tomorrows activities whatever they may be.
high season continues to provide us with large Audiences most of the time, the weather has become quite unpredictable with heavy showers and storms between bright sunshine and blue skies, people never seem to be deterred from visiting the park though, didn't realise it was such a popular attraction.
That about wraps it up for now, soon i'll be able to tell you about the filming we're doing tomorrow and what extra stunts or fight scenes we might be required to do!
P.
Thursday 5 August 2010
good morning.
Hello all.
So on Tuesday I went to the Kung Fu class that our Shaolin monks have been running at the park. It was an intense workout and i'm seriously feeling the effects on my muscles but I intend to keep going and getting my stamina etc up :-)
Shows have had a few glitches lately, just the usual things like the flame grill not working. The show had definitely had an air of consistency to it these last few weeks which is a good thing. High season continues to give us big audiences, particularly the second show each day. A few days ago we filled the theatre and people were being turned away at the entrance, first time thats happened!
We have some mirage representatives in Germany at the moment, they came to watch the shows yesterday but I dont know if they'll be suggesting any more changes to the show or if they're just keeping an eye on the progress we've made.
Right I must dash, have been a bit lazy with the blog recently but i'll try and fix that in the next week or so and keep you up to date!
P.
So on Tuesday I went to the Kung Fu class that our Shaolin monks have been running at the park. It was an intense workout and i'm seriously feeling the effects on my muscles but I intend to keep going and getting my stamina etc up :-)
Shows have had a few glitches lately, just the usual things like the flame grill not working. The show had definitely had an air of consistency to it these last few weeks which is a good thing. High season continues to give us big audiences, particularly the second show each day. A few days ago we filled the theatre and people were being turned away at the entrance, first time thats happened!
We have some mirage representatives in Germany at the moment, they came to watch the shows yesterday but I dont know if they'll be suggesting any more changes to the show or if they're just keeping an eye on the progress we've made.
Right I must dash, have been a bit lazy with the blog recently but i'll try and fix that in the next week or so and keep you up to date!
P.
Thursday 29 July 2010
hallo.
Alright readers.
So it's another day off for me today. Completely tidied my room, how dull! Was good to give my muscles a rest and catch up on some sleep though.
We've had a few difficulties recently with the show as an increasing number of FX were being very inconsistent. The moving car hadn't been working for a weeks and the flame grill and collapsing balcony were malfunctioning quite often.
Earlier in the week we started the first show and about 10 seconds in we noticed a problem with the sound track. Shortly after we had all realised backstage the techies gave an announcement that they'd be restarting the show. However the next 3 attempts at starting the show all ended the same way and the show was eventually cancelled. We spent the next few hours of day waiting to see if the problem had been fixed but when it got to 3:30pm, the time they let the next audience in, we were told that there was still no solution and if it carried on then we might not be doing shows until Saturday (the earliest date that the one person who could adjust the sound-board was available). Amazingly though, about 45 minutes later our cheif techie had managed to isolate and solve the problem so we managed to do the 3rd show.
The day after that we arrived to work and were told that all the problematic FX in the show had been fixed, the car, balcony and flame-grill were all functioning well so we had a very good day of shows then.
Unfotunately theres a lot of tension between people in and involved with the show at the moment but that doesn't belong on my blog so I wont elaborate. Hopefully we'll continue to have fully functioning shows and big audiences over the weekend at that might help things along.
Till my next one ya'll!
P.
So it's another day off for me today. Completely tidied my room, how dull! Was good to give my muscles a rest and catch up on some sleep though.
We've had a few difficulties recently with the show as an increasing number of FX were being very inconsistent. The moving car hadn't been working for a weeks and the flame grill and collapsing balcony were malfunctioning quite often.
Earlier in the week we started the first show and about 10 seconds in we noticed a problem with the sound track. Shortly after we had all realised backstage the techies gave an announcement that they'd be restarting the show. However the next 3 attempts at starting the show all ended the same way and the show was eventually cancelled. We spent the next few hours of day waiting to see if the problem had been fixed but when it got to 3:30pm, the time they let the next audience in, we were told that there was still no solution and if it carried on then we might not be doing shows until Saturday (the earliest date that the one person who could adjust the sound-board was available). Amazingly though, about 45 minutes later our cheif techie had managed to isolate and solve the problem so we managed to do the 3rd show.
The day after that we arrived to work and were told that all the problematic FX in the show had been fixed, the car, balcony and flame-grill were all functioning well so we had a very good day of shows then.
Unfotunately theres a lot of tension between people in and involved with the show at the moment but that doesn't belong on my blog so I wont elaborate. Hopefully we'll continue to have fully functioning shows and big audiences over the weekend at that might help things along.
Till my next one ya'll!
P.
Friday 23 July 2010
Day off update,
Hello all, so todays my day off and therefore a good time to update!
We've recently lost internet in our greenroom hense my lack of regular updates, hopefully we should get it back soon.
So yeah, we're well into our high-season routine now. 3 shows a day as standard, on the weekends we're on standby to do 4 or more, it hasnt happened yet but you never know. The shows remain pretty consistant, recently though we had a show where the biggest moving part of our set (the "iron" bridge that Storm arrives on) failed to work. What's meant to happen is that she appears, fires a few lightning bolts at Magneto who then lifts the bridge about 8 feet up and tips her off it. It's quite a long procedure, about 15 seconds for the bridge to raise and tilt. Not too long you may be thinking but when the bridge doesn't work it felt like an eternity before we could move on with the show. Anyway, turns out it hadn't been plugged in... nice.
So today I finally got round to opening a German bank account with the help of one of my new German friends from the other Stunt Show in the Park. When I asked if there was anything I could do in return she said "well today I play the girl out of the audience role and I need a pretend boyfriend to sit with". Normally she just asks someone from the audience as they walk in but she says it's always easier if it's someone you know. So I agreed and we went into the park. Met her at the beginning of the show and about 10 minutes in they call for a "volunteer" and she gets selected. She's then asked if she's here with anyone and she points at me and I get told "say goodbye to your girlfriend!" Everybody laughs and the pretence is a good one. That is until people sitting near me start asking questions along the lines of "is she part of the team?" and many things in German. People did get a bit suspiscious when I told them i was English but it becomes pretty obvious it's all a setup when she starts doing dangerous stunts on stage :-p
So that was fun, didn't actually go see the x-men show, the one time I did sit in the audience I was plagued by some of the regular audience members who kept taking photos of me, didn't really fancy doing that again.
Anyway, that about covers it for now, we're on a slightly different schedule for the weekend so im going to chill out for the rest of the day and make sure i'm well rested for then.
Catch you later!
P.
We've recently lost internet in our greenroom hense my lack of regular updates, hopefully we should get it back soon.
So yeah, we're well into our high-season routine now. 3 shows a day as standard, on the weekends we're on standby to do 4 or more, it hasnt happened yet but you never know. The shows remain pretty consistant, recently though we had a show where the biggest moving part of our set (the "iron" bridge that Storm arrives on) failed to work. What's meant to happen is that she appears, fires a few lightning bolts at Magneto who then lifts the bridge about 8 feet up and tips her off it. It's quite a long procedure, about 15 seconds for the bridge to raise and tilt. Not too long you may be thinking but when the bridge doesn't work it felt like an eternity before we could move on with the show. Anyway, turns out it hadn't been plugged in... nice.
So today I finally got round to opening a German bank account with the help of one of my new German friends from the other Stunt Show in the Park. When I asked if there was anything I could do in return she said "well today I play the girl out of the audience role and I need a pretend boyfriend to sit with". Normally she just asks someone from the audience as they walk in but she says it's always easier if it's someone you know. So I agreed and we went into the park. Met her at the beginning of the show and about 10 minutes in they call for a "volunteer" and she gets selected. She's then asked if she's here with anyone and she points at me and I get told "say goodbye to your girlfriend!" Everybody laughs and the pretence is a good one. That is until people sitting near me start asking questions along the lines of "is she part of the team?" and many things in German. People did get a bit suspiscious when I told them i was English but it becomes pretty obvious it's all a setup when she starts doing dangerous stunts on stage :-p
So that was fun, didn't actually go see the x-men show, the one time I did sit in the audience I was plagued by some of the regular audience members who kept taking photos of me, didn't really fancy doing that again.
Anyway, that about covers it for now, we're on a slightly different schedule for the weekend so im going to chill out for the rest of the day and make sure i'm well rested for then.
Catch you later!
P.
Saturday 17 July 2010
must dash...
Hello all, very quick update before I go out. We're going to a party tonight, will be celebrating the halfway point of the contract. 15 weeks out of 30, so time for a knees-up.
Shows have been pretty consistent recently, we had our pyro-technic budget reduced from 90 Euros a day to 60 meaning we've lost some of the least important explosions from the show (in my opinion they were all important but nevermind).
Second show today was fun though, we had another CO2 explosion but this time I was the one holding the cannister. As the "electric transformer" (really a big heavy foam cylinder) explodes off the wall it's meant to land on the stage and take no further action in the show. However, it has recently taken to bouncing off the floor straight towards me and it's a pretty hefty thing too! Yesterday i got pretty good at watching it and then side-kicking it away as it bounces towards me but today it bounced very low and flew into the CO2 gun that I was holding causing the hose to sheer and the entire high-pressure contents of the cannister to start spraying out with some ferocity. I leaped like a startled Gazelle out of the way and kept my distance until it had emptied itself (which took a while!)
The techies have said they'll be altering the angle at which the transformer gets fired so hopefully thats the end of that little problem.
No more 2 day shows for us anymore, it'll be 3 a day from now until we close give-or-take. On the plus side we've had a full crowd on a couple of occasions now so that's always good :-)
Will be updating again next week.
P.
Shows have been pretty consistent recently, we had our pyro-technic budget reduced from 90 Euros a day to 60 meaning we've lost some of the least important explosions from the show (in my opinion they were all important but nevermind).
Second show today was fun though, we had another CO2 explosion but this time I was the one holding the cannister. As the "electric transformer" (really a big heavy foam cylinder) explodes off the wall it's meant to land on the stage and take no further action in the show. However, it has recently taken to bouncing off the floor straight towards me and it's a pretty hefty thing too! Yesterday i got pretty good at watching it and then side-kicking it away as it bounces towards me but today it bounced very low and flew into the CO2 gun that I was holding causing the hose to sheer and the entire high-pressure contents of the cannister to start spraying out with some ferocity. I leaped like a startled Gazelle out of the way and kept my distance until it had emptied itself (which took a while!)
The techies have said they'll be altering the angle at which the transformer gets fired so hopefully thats the end of that little problem.
No more 2 day shows for us anymore, it'll be 3 a day from now until we close give-or-take. On the plus side we've had a full crowd on a couple of occasions now so that's always good :-)
Will be updating again next week.
P.
Tuesday 13 July 2010
and recently...
Hello all, just a brief detailing of the last few shows for you...
As far as I recall Sunday wasn't too bad. I do recall that in one show one of the CO2 guns wasn't working from early on, it was the important gun as well, the one thats used by Gambit to give the other X-Men their powers back. During the show we were exchanging advice to see if we could get it working but to no avail, so about halfway through the show I heard Aidan say "i'll use the other one". Now the other one is left on the wrong side of the stage so like a pro Aidan ran over and left his staff on the ground in time to spray the X-Men with it. A couple of minutes later I go over to where Gambit had left the staff and think "oh blimey, he's going to need this in a bit" so I casually pick it up and throw it to him. Pretty good improvisational skills dont you think? So yeah that was Sunday.
Yesterday we awoke to another scorching hot day but about 10 minutes before the audience were due to be let in the theatre the sky became practically black with a massive storm cloud, within minutes the wind had become so ferocious that there was debree flying all around the park. All the rides were shut down and as a result we lost power in the theatre meaning no first show. There was nothing anyone could do so we spent the day just waiting for the next show which went just fine.
This morning we got off to a usual start, I had a bit of a dodgy entrance as I lost balance on my front handspring and therefore lost my footing for my brief fight sequence, everything went ok but i'm sure it will have looked a little sloppy. The show carried on and we got past Nightcrawlers entrance before suddenly the lights went out. Now we've been told from previous occasions that the lighting is linked with the special effects and once the lighting has reset the pyros and FX simply wont work. We carried on for a few seconds before the soundtrack stopped and we heard our techie calling the show off. Now in England this probably would have lead to a lot of boo-ing from the crowd but German audiences are a bit more respectful than that so they all left without making any fuss.
The second show went well except for Gambit's rising flame grill which got stuck on it's way up and consequently didn't fire (thank god for some of the failsafes we have). Talk of sabotage has quietened down as we now have a heavy security prescence at the theatre but the question of "was it ever sabotage in the first place" is still in a lot of peoples minds. Guess we'll have to wait and see!
It's my day off tomorrow so I intend to have a few beers tonight and chill out all day. Lovely :-)
P.
As far as I recall Sunday wasn't too bad. I do recall that in one show one of the CO2 guns wasn't working from early on, it was the important gun as well, the one thats used by Gambit to give the other X-Men their powers back. During the show we were exchanging advice to see if we could get it working but to no avail, so about halfway through the show I heard Aidan say "i'll use the other one". Now the other one is left on the wrong side of the stage so like a pro Aidan ran over and left his staff on the ground in time to spray the X-Men with it. A couple of minutes later I go over to where Gambit had left the staff and think "oh blimey, he's going to need this in a bit" so I casually pick it up and throw it to him. Pretty good improvisational skills dont you think? So yeah that was Sunday.
Yesterday we awoke to another scorching hot day but about 10 minutes before the audience were due to be let in the theatre the sky became practically black with a massive storm cloud, within minutes the wind had become so ferocious that there was debree flying all around the park. All the rides were shut down and as a result we lost power in the theatre meaning no first show. There was nothing anyone could do so we spent the day just waiting for the next show which went just fine.
This morning we got off to a usual start, I had a bit of a dodgy entrance as I lost balance on my front handspring and therefore lost my footing for my brief fight sequence, everything went ok but i'm sure it will have looked a little sloppy. The show carried on and we got past Nightcrawlers entrance before suddenly the lights went out. Now we've been told from previous occasions that the lighting is linked with the special effects and once the lighting has reset the pyros and FX simply wont work. We carried on for a few seconds before the soundtrack stopped and we heard our techie calling the show off. Now in England this probably would have lead to a lot of boo-ing from the crowd but German audiences are a bit more respectful than that so they all left without making any fuss.
The second show went well except for Gambit's rising flame grill which got stuck on it's way up and consequently didn't fire (thank god for some of the failsafes we have). Talk of sabotage has quietened down as we now have a heavy security prescence at the theatre but the question of "was it ever sabotage in the first place" is still in a lot of peoples minds. Guess we'll have to wait and see!
It's my day off tomorrow so I intend to have a few beers tonight and chill out all day. Lovely :-)
P.
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