The Mad Hatters Writing Desk

Saving the Hatter is only a matter of time..

So Alice Through the Looking Glass has released it's trailer and it's safe to say I'm excited beyond belief!

This probably won't come as much as a surprise due to the fact I have an obsession with Alice in Wonderland as it's my fave book. As well as the fact Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland is one of my all time fave films. Plus, Tim Burton is my favourite producer/directer, and of course, it's no surprise that Johnny Depp is my favourite actor. Oh and, not forgetting my blog name, of course.

So yeah, excited is a little understatement. To add to the excitement some more, by the time it's released I should have my Alice in Wonderland (Tim Burton themed) tattoo! And even more on Alice in Wonderland... I'm currently doing a brief at college based off of one of it's quotes. I will be posting about that project next week once I have finished it!

This has been an Alice in Wonderland full post. Written not very long after another post, but y'know I can't tame my excitement at the minute so I am embracing it.

No comments

, by Unknown

gig

All bad things must come to and end..

On Tuesday I went to see Mötley Crüe on their Final Tour, it was one hell of a night!

The usual pre-gig routine happened which involved getting home from college, getting ready, and stressing over if you'll forget something. Followed by getting food, and setting off to the venue. In my case, I had to make my way down to Manchester.

I arrived in Manchester pretty much bang on 7pm, when the doors opened. Usually this would have panicked me as I'm one of those that likes to get there a bit early (not so much 7 hours early but I have done that on a few occasions), but luckily there wasn't much queues given it was an arena with many different entrances. And plus, I had come from Leeds so I have to be realistic really.

As soon as we got in we looked at merch, and I had to decide over a Motley Crue top or an Alice Cooper top (who was supporting). After the struggle of deciding, especially under pressure due to the mass queues, I settled on an Alice Cooper t-shirt, mostly because I already had a Motley Crue one. I then ran to the toilet 'just in case' and put our stuff away in the cloakroom. I say cloakroom, but really, as it was an arena they just had some random bordered off area for them. It was free though!

Then the stress of getting a good spot began. As we had standing tickets (of course) and as it was already past 7pm I didn't have too much hope of getting an amazing spot. Especially as we ended up going down the wrong stairs at first. But we finally got down onto the floor and surprisingly the crowd wasn't that full at that time. I mean, it was busy, but plenty of space to move in between and get a good spot. I ended up much closer to the front than expected, especially for an arena! I would have been happy anywhere to be honest though, atmosphere at arenas are amazing no matter where abouts you are.

After a few awkward encounters, and the over excitement, it was time for the legend that is Alice Cooper to take the stage. It was a surreal moment when he came on, the atmosphere was amazing and you can tell everyone else was as amazed as each other. He was very theatrical, more so than I was expecting. He even did some magic type tricks.. involving him disappearing and being 'beheaded', which I couldn't get my head around. But I guess that's the point! It was definitely more than a band just performing, it was a full on show in itself. He had some cool effects too such as bubble machines, balloons that went into the crowd, and of course pyro. He played around 13 songs in total, obviously including classics such as Poison, Feed My Frankenstein and he closed on Schools Out. Overall he was amazing, and you wouldn't have thought it was a support act, could have definitely headlined on his own tour.

Then the usual crowd moving happened between sets. Even though it got much busier, I ended up getting even closer so I guess that's a plus. Then at long last it was time for Motley Crue to play for me and for everyone in Manchester arena for the last time ever. We knew when they were about to come on because of the song that was playing just before they entered the stage (So Long, Farewell). Then the lights went off and they hit the stage for the final time. It was an amazing opening, they kicked things off instantly with Girls, Girls, Girls and everyone went crazy. They played a 18 song set, with plenty of classics. Mick Mars had an amazing solo, and Tommy Lee had an insane drum solo on a rollercoaster. Meaning he was drumming whilst his platform made it's way across the rollercoaster, whilst his platform was also spinning upside down. At one point he was above the crowd upside down drumming, talk about defying gravity. He even drummed the entire way back too, it was incredible. Of course the guys also had their fair share of pyro and confetti.

Nikki Sixx gave an inspiring speech just before they played Anarchy in the U.K which was an amazing moment. This was also when a whole cup of beer fell on my head. So that was the one downside of the night as I practically drowned (not quite, but you know what I mean), and my fringe was no longer on point. I recorded a few videos which I'll include in this post (but i'll stop myself from posting too much because I get carried away). They played Dr. Feelgood and Kickstart My Heart just before their encore, and as it was meant to be the 'ending' it was an awesome way to end. Nikki Sixx and Vince Neil went on some cherrypickers into the crowd, and there was tons and tons of confetti and fireworks. They came back on a few minutes later, but they went on to the acoustic stage in the middle of the floor. As we were so close to the front we ended up basically running to the acoustic stage to get a good spot for Home Sweet Home. I got a bit emotional at this point to be honest as it kicked in that it'll be the last ever time I get to see them play, and even more so their last song. There was an amazing atmosphere and I definitely won't ever forget it! They couldn't have ended it better. Nikki kept giving out as many picks as possible but unfortunately I didn't get one, and wasn't really feeling up to fighting some grown men for one to be honest. But I did grab myself some confetti as a souvenir, of course, no matter how sad I looked trying to get some.

I left the venue already sad that it was over, the gig was almost too good. But that's a good thing, because it was the last time I'll ever see them. It was one hell of a way to do their Final Tour, but I guess that's what you'd expect from a band that's being going 34 years. I feel so lucky to have witnessed that night and it'll always be one of my favourite gigs, and I think we all know I've been to way too many so that's saying something.

I spent the journey home back to Leeds listening to them, watching my videos and looking at my photos, a little bit soon eh? Oh well, I guess it's time to let the post-concert depression kick in.

No comments

, by Unknown

lifestyle

A weekend in Sicily

So I have just returned from my weekend away in Palermo, Sicily. I went on Friday night and returned very early Tuesday morning (5am, what a nice time). Me and my brother have wanted to go to Italy for so long, and we were meant to in August but it didn't work out. So this was a nice make-up for it, and it was an amazing weekend.

Friday

Once we had settled in and found our hotel on Friday night it was already almost 11pm, so we decided to just go out for some food and rest before the long next few days ahead of us. We went to a small restaurant, but only one of the waiters knew how to speak English. So that was an interesting and an amusing challenge. Someone also gave us some roses, and it didn't take much for us to already get lost.

So I ended up taking 800 photos, in which I managed to cancel down to 500, so I won't post too many, although this post will be more pictures than words I imagine. The Saturday was spent exploring the city, the monuments, the cathedrals and churches, gardens and other sights. The weather was pretty lovely too, it got up to around 25 degrees, with a few odd rain showers but can't complain really. The architecture in Italy is amazing, especially in the churches and cathedrals. We also went to some Catacombs but obviously I have no photos of that. They were interesting but also makes you realise how scary life can be. In the late afternoon we went to the marine, It started to rain a little and we saw a cute rainbow. A storm was blowing over, so we started to head back after a little while. Don't think it ever actually happened though. Although, this on and off weather did result in my brother swinging umbrellas around all the time as we were walking.

In the evening we went for a meal, and then for a few cocktails. We ended up in this funky bar with a little band playing, it had some cool vibes. Plus the waiters were all dressed in matching suspenders and shirts and it was cute. You can tell we were English though, not as if our super pale skin and touristy vibes weren't enough.

Sunday

Sunday was spent going through some art galleries, more gardens and churches, the marine again, and the beach in Mondello. The art galleries were interesting, I loved how there were a few different ones linked together across the city and how one was in an old abandoned (almost) building. There were literal wardrobes hanging from the roof in one gallery. None fell down and landed on me thankfully.

We also did a little shopping before we went into Mondello. I got some little souvenirs and some new shoes (why not). My brother got excited and wanted to get a football shirt. To be honest though, it was a cool shop, was loving the colour scheme. The staff were really nice too. My mum got into a habit of speaking in English but with an Italian accent. It got a bit awkward to witness, but apparently she didn't know she was doing it. Can't take her anywhere.

We did get lost before we got to Mondello. Pretty sure we walked through most of the city until we finally asked for help. We did end up in Mondello though eventually and we had lunch before we had a little wander and headed on to the beach. It was cloudy one minute, and sunny the next but thankfully and luckily it didn't rain.

As you can see I can be really awkward when people take photos of me. I just think I'm funny and laugh, which I do most of the time anyway. After some time on the beach we went back to Palermo and went back to the marine and went on the tiny little beach there and then wandered around the city some more, including another garden.

We had some down time for a few hours before going back out in the evening. We went for a few cocktails again and then we went for a meal but took way to long deciding on which place to go for some reason. We also kept hearing fireworks but didn't manage to find where they were coming from, even though they were still going hours later when we returned to the hotel. Please excuse my over dramatic pose in the photo with my brother below, I kinda thought ''why not?'' at the time and now I know why not.

Monday

Monday was our last day, so we tried to make the most of it before we had to go to the airport at about 5pm. We started by visiting the markets and there were so many! We then did a little more shopping, took a horse and carriage tour around the city and then explored the Botanical Gardens before packing and heading for the airport.

Our flight wasn't until 9.35pm but it was a little delayed. I didn't end up getting home until around 5am because we flew from London so we had to drive home as well as the flight. So that was a nice cold, long, and tiring journey home.

This post has been pretty basic and mostly pictures, so I may come back and add more detail at a later point. But It was an amazing weekend and I can't wait to go visit Sicily again!

I will be posting a few photos on Instagram gradually some of which probably won't have been included in this post, so if anyone's interested check it out.