S04, Episode 02

Beauty Of The Beast

Just when I thought 'I'm only going to watch this movie because of Emma Watson', here I was sitting two hours later in a massive movie theatre, among a bunch of 8 year olds, feeling, possibly more moved than any one of them. 

What a movie! I have been a fan of Emma's for 15 years, hashtag girl crush. I always liked Beauty and The Beast, it has been one of my favourites Disney cartoons of my childhood, along with Hercules and The Lion King. I had been apprehensive about re-creating the cartoons into live action films for years now, which is why I refused to go see the live action remake of Cinderella. But this one, I had to, it all added up, Emma, one of my faves..

It was a beautiful adaptation of the original, and the reason I call it an adaptation is because the only thing different was a couple of details were added to the story-which I won't spoil for you if you haven't seen it. Other than this, the film pretty much was an exact copy of the cartoon, and WHY NOT, there's a reason we fell in love with the 1991 release anyway. 

Re-watching it as an adult made me shake my head, nod along with many historical references, since it is taking place in provincial France of the 1700, which I now am educated about contrary to the 4 year old me who watched this film back in the 90s. I found it super interesting that the writers took a good opportunity to emphasise some of the messages in this film by adding lines or extra small scenes in order to convey them to the young girls, such as 'it's okay to be different', 'girls have the right to chose their destiny', 'they have the right to education', 'you should stay true to who you are'. And I didn't even find it cheesy. My favourite moment, regarding messages, was when Gaston claimed that 'it's the girls who play hard to get and stay classy that are the ones worth chasing'. I could hear the writer screaming in his mind 'you hear this ladies???' when he was typing this line. 

Emma's performance had a lot to do with making sure the movie stayed witty and timeless. Her modern-yet faithful to the script performance was the cherry on top of that magnificent production of a pie. I don't really need to praise the ultra-talented famous cast that was in the film, the names speak for themselves. Sir Ian McKellen, Emma Thompson, Stanley Tucci, Ewan McGregor, Kevin Kline and boy did I have no idea that Audra McDonald could sing like that. Okay, before you interrupt your reading of the post to go google who she is quickly, she is Naomi in Private Practice. So, yeap, hats off to the Casting Director.

And now a mention to what everyone is talking about, the incorporation of gay characters, references and a 'gay moment' in the film. Um, get over it? (I quote Sir Ian McKellen). Maybe we were too naive to realise that Le Fou was gay in the cartoon, I don't know, I cannot remember, and I don't have time to go back and watch it again, I have to get back to my research on family happiness in the 1800s according to Tolstoy's Anna Karenina because I have an assignment, yawn for you, but very interesting to this nerd here. But yes, there is a massive innuendo that Le Fou is either bisexual or homosexual and that this is great! There is a fraction of a second at the end of the film-SKIP a few lines, this is a SPOILER-where everyone is happy, dancing at the palace, and he is dancing with another bloke who had previously in the film, seemingly enjoyed it when he is forced to wear a dress while being attacked by Madame Garderobe. A possible crossdressing reference here as well, but once again, this is the writer's and the director's way of saying, hey it's OALL good. Hashat, be you. 

Beautiful costumes, design, special effects and montage. Emma's fresh performance would not be complete without Dan Stevens' adorable performance as the Beast. 

Who wouldn't have fallen in love with an educated, kind-hearted (in the end), blue eyed, tall, dark, and cute monster? Lads who shave chests and backs because they feel like 'they have to' but they don't really want to, hey be a cute beast. 

#HeForShe

PS: THIS MOMENT. I now want a mustard frock again.

Season 03, Ep. 05

The Audition

This shall be a brief(ish) post...

I was in the car yesterday on my way to the city and "Apologise" by One Republic came on the radio. It's a song that comes with many memories. The first one is the fact that when I still owned an iPod, this song was the top song on my Top 25 most played songs playlist. With a whopping number of plays of 372 times. Yes, I was obsessed. It is a crazy good song after all, the words, the music, the angelic voice of Ryan Tedder. There is even a video of me singing it a Capella with two friends, back when I was still a University student in 2008, on YouTube. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-TJSgDyuG7s -see?).

In spite of all this, yesterday, a more chronologically progressed memory popped into my mind. It's 2009 and I am about to graduate from University and I was itching to move on to my Musical Theatre training. I have just applied to a dozen of Drama Schools in London and I have just heard back from a few of those asking to see me for an audition. One of them was Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts in the heart of London. Knowing that a few names were part of their alumni including THE Judy Garland and the quite controversial Russell Brand, you can imagine my excitement. I had to nail this. 

Every Drama school's audition process is different but most schools due to their vast amount of applicants they receive every year, they decide to offer very limited audition time to each candidate, having the confidence that within 5 mins of a monologue, 2 mins of a choreography and 16 bars of any Musical Theatre song will help them make their final decision. And it's true, sometimes, this tiny window of a shot each applicant receives, shall be enough to sift the goodies from the baddies judged by industry 'experts'. Show-business usually works this way anyway, everyone's time is money and if you have what it truly takes, you may as well be able to show it within 180 seconds. 

Italia Conti has a bit of a different approach. Their belief is that every candidate deserves a thorough examination in order to see if this is their ideal place of training. So they dedicate weeks to auditioning every applicant in the following areas: A monologue, a solo dancing piece, an entire solo song followed by three classes of dance and acting classes. This way the judges get to see how each performer works with another, how they cope within a classroom, how well they take direction etc. 

I see both different audition approaches' point, but let's be honest, Italia Conti's thoroughness is definitely helping a little more, both judges and performers. If you screw up your dance, you get a chance to redeem yourself within the class that follows. Everybody messes up, especially when under pressure. And come to think of it, all applicants are ages 16-23 max. Tinies. 

So as I am at home thinking and preparing for my dance solo on the day, I decide to go with 'Apologise' for my song and create a dance with it, since my background training was ballet and contemporary dance. It was perfect. I had it all prepared and on my iPod. I just needed to make sure they have a lead that I could connect to my iPod so I wouldn't have to burn a CD for the day. Kids, a CD is a round disk we use to burn songs onto and pop them into a thing called a stereo and listen to our favourite songs. Just FYI. 

I gave the school a ring and they said that they surely have an iPod lead I could use on the day. Phew, all ready. 

So I show up and I am ready to go, having practiced my dance again and again, since out of the "Triple Threat"* package, dance was my weakest. I walk in the room and I ask for the iPod lead. They look at me, I look over at the stereo, no lead. "Oh sorry there is no lead in this room, do you have a CD with your song?". "Um, no I called to ask if it's okay to use my iPod and they said it's okay". There was only one lead on the floor and it was being used by another class. After what seemed the longest and most awkward pause, in order to figure out what to do, the director of the course says "look, we only care about your dancing abilities and your moves here, not so much about the music, would you be comfortable doing it without music then?". I stood there and put on my uber confident suit and said "Sure thing". And then straight after that, without even thinking about it again, I blurted out "Actually, it's a slow song and dance, I can try to sing along while dancing". WHAT. So here I am singing "I'm holding on your rope got me 10 feet off the ground..." and doing my little twirl and slow walk along the room...Needless to say the courage and multitasking skill I portrayed despite my 'technical difficulty' on the day, secured me a place in the school. Well, that and my big talent and dancing technique of course LOL LOL LOL. And the rest is history...

Lesson to be learnt. Don't let minor hinders stand in your way of your dream. You want something, go get it. Technology will always be letting us down. It's up to us to carry on and do well. 

Huh. Maybe this wasn't a brief-ish post after all.

*Triple Threat: an all rounder performer who is able to act, sing and dance exceptionally.

BYE

Season 3, Ep. 02

The One With The Stage Challenge

Wow, here we are. My first taste of the so-called 'Stage Challenge'. For those of you who have no clue what I'm talking about, Stage Challenge is a New Zealand National dance/show school competition. Students from all regions from the North and the South Island create a dance based showcase and compete against each other. Each region crowns a winner each week. Students are 100% responsible for creating their show. They create the story, choose the songs and choreograph it. They announce their team leaders plus they get a team together who will be in charge of costumes and make up and the set.

Teachers are pretty decorative at the start to be honest. We are just there to make sure there won't be any teenage drama over who gets the solo, and to avoid anyone ripping another's hairs off over who is the better...dancer, I guess? As time goes on and the dances are coming together, I guess a more expert eye is an asset to the team, in order to give them some constructive feedback as far as polishing their dances goes, staging them and getting into character. I feel honoured to have been asked to be that person. If you have just started following The Moo Point, I have been involved with theatre and dance since I was 6 years old. Having the kids respect that and take all the feedback into consideration was fantastic, and I suppose all this brought me closer with some students.

The actual day was a blast. We drove up to New Plymouth, the main city of our region, and spend the better part of 13 hours at the theatre. Staging, setting up, practicing, but most importantly, mingling with the competition, aka the other schools. I'm not gonna lie, I was expecting a bit of healthy rivalry to go on, some bitchy comments, picking on every little thing about each other, no, on the contrary, those kids were the epitome of support, unity and fun. Pretty much proves my point why I will always be so passionate about the performing arts. They are the epitome of being united and leaving your troubles at the door. The second we stepped foot at the theatre, they started having random dance offs in the middle of their changing area. Next thing you know they are all resting together, or having another dance off. 

The themes were completely free choice, therefore completely different from each other. The other schools went down the melodramatic route and created a showcase out of big life issues such as the refugee crisis or cancer. Our school decided to get in touch with their imagination and create a show based on that minimum chance there'll be a zombie apocalypse. Dead people, skeletons, zombies and eventually SATAN, all came together on stage for a bit of hip hop jiggle. But boy did they look amazing. And boy did they work hard. Pretty much until the last half hour before they went on stage they were practicing at the back. And what do I always say? Hard work pays off. Best choreography award, plus best costume and make up award. Not too shabby ae. I have never felt more proud of someone in my life so far to be honest with you. This is why this job is so fulfilling, this is why I love teaching. 

And how are you?

Season 3, Episode 01

The Social Media Vanity Fair Issue

So lately I have decided to follow the Kardashian-Jenner clan on Snapchat. And at times when I get bored, I'll flick through their snaps and have a laugh. It lasted me a week. A week of seeing their snaps until I decided to delete them of my snapchat. That's all it took me. I mean don't get me wrong, I love me some Kardashian craze, been watching them since pretty much season 1 on E!. But only because I never take them seriously. It is my 'go to' show, along with some MTV trashies when I need to escape, have a laugh and...just have a GOOD laugh.
We all know and agree that this family's vanity levels are growing along with their bank accounts but hey, we are responsible for that, I mean, I am right here, number 1 guilty fan of the show, sitting right here aren't I. And that's fine, that's what they do best but at least they're genuine, I give them that.
But oh my DOG, their snapchat accounts are OTT vain even for them. But not all of them, here's the catch. Kendall's and Kourtney's are pretty mild, everyday, hardly annoying little post, Kendall who is in my opinion the most devine looking one, we hardly even get to see her face. Kim and Kylie are all about that ''look at me and my flawless but completely made up where nothing is nature's gift face". And then there's sweet blunt Khloe. That girl is finally looking hot after all those years of getting slammed for being the ugly sister, she has this massive thirst to show it off on her snapchat. Bless her soul. Oh well, enjoy it sista, you deserve it.
But here's my point. Social media have been feeding our egos and vanities so much over the last 8 years, that I am starting to see how much we have all started to sink in this fake world where a profile picture HAS to be 150% better than the real deal.
I am guilty of selfies, I have taken my fair share and I am the first to stand up and admit that every time I took one and looked good and I ended up posting it online, I did it to show off something, or to prove something. Two things I don't like, are denial and lies. And I would be in massive denial and lying to myself and yous out there if I said that I didn't post a selfie to attract someone of my interest in the past and to prove something. Feels familiar?
Does it also feel familiar that you post way more selfies or photos of you looking gorgeous when you're single or when you have just been dumped and trying that ''look what you're missing out on" routine? Come on, honesty is the best policy...
I usually have noticed that truly gorgeous people don't usually bother with selfies (eg. Kendall Jenner on snapchat). Oh, I feel like I have offended people here. But no, that's the problem. You're all gorgeous, we just insecure. And social media's likes help mend that for a day or a week. Right?
The more insecure we feel about ourselves, the more we want to post a selfie online, add a million filters and even smooth our skin out a little bit and wait for those likes so we can take a massive breath and say ''ah cool, I'm hot again, phew". Pfff, sad but true and we're all guilty. And I don't expect suddenly for everyone here to decide to deactivate accounts or never take a selfie again, I mean, it is fun at the end of the day. But here is my advice. Don't take social media so seriously. Don't rely on social media to tell you what you look like today, and how you feel. You have nothing to prove to anyone. Now go take a selfie pulling a funny face instead of a duckface. And if you don't get 100 likes, that's okay, you're comfortable with yourself and you're a person not a billboard. Be real. In a world full of Kims, be a Kate Middleton. I KNOW, how gorgeous is she!

Season 2, Ep.11 (Season Finale)

Miss G

You see this? Now take a moment to think about it. What were your dreams 10 years ago? Are they the same today? If not why? What happened to have altered your dreams? 

Remember, I'm still talking about dreams here, there is no sour note to this whatsoever. They are still dreams and goals. They are still your happy gateways. They're just not the same they where when you were 18. 

For me, it is teaching. 20 years ago it was a 7 year old's valid dream, yes, but then it just faded away to let room for the flashier dreams, the ones about show-business. And believe me I went for it. And I did it. I worked for it, I paid my dues, boy do I know I paid my dues. And then, how can I explain it, I grew up? I grew out of it? I saw a little too much of the rest of that iceberg that put me off it? All of the above? Anyhoo, the calling had not been found yet. But let me get this straight, my bossiness was always there, the thrill I would get from being in charge of things, choreographing, directing, teaching...teaching...teaching!  And the best part is I never asked for it, it just tapped me on the back and said "erm, hello, what about me?". 

Yeah yeah yeah, I know what you think, those who can't, teach, well maybe there's a reason for the existence of the stereotype yes, but for me, the one thing that I will always believe in, preach about and lead, is to always do things that make you happy. Always. Even if it means you have to be patient to 'get there', as long as you are doing it, as long as you are on that journey, it's enough. I would not be doing this now if I wasn't 150% passionate about it. Even more than I was when I was performing. 

Students always ask me why I became a teacher. I was lucky to have been raised with amazing values and morals and within a close family, but I am aware not everyone can be as fortunate. Enter teachers. If I can help even one teenager become a decent human being with integrity coming out of High School, I've done my job. Our motto is to raise good people for a rapidly changing world. And that's it. That was my calling, my purpose, my talent. Being a mentor, a role model and an model of influence is my thrill, my kick. 

I can ramble on so much about this, this is how much it thrills me. For the record, I will always be an artist. I teach the arts, believe me, I haven't changed that much. I haven't changed at all. I've evolved. 

And you?

"The more you listen the more you learn, the more you learn the smarter you become, the better you are able to tackle anything that comes your way"

See y'all next Season, till then, Miss G out.

Season 2, Ep. 04

Italia Conti, Continued.

 I'm gonna use a more festive colour to type this episode due to the holidays. Ha. 

 Hi! How you doin'? Counting down till Friday? I am! I'm actually cheating and decided to open first presents on Christmas Eve. Hashtag, sorry not sorry.

 Anyhoo, where were we. Oh, apologies for derailing the subject last week, but, you know, Ed Sheeran. 

So my time at the Drama College was definitely a big chapter. There were a lot of firsts. No, not those firsts. One of them was my first big panic attack. You know, like the panic attacks you get where you can't breathe and you squeal like a fox trying to gasp for air and at the same time you can't shut up, you just have to try to form sentences? Yeah that.

 I was always into my Ballet, it was after all my first form of art that I got into. I started as soon as I could walk and I just kept progressing until deep into my teens when I became so passionate I was taking extra summer courses abroad at Ballet Schools. So when I got into Italia Conti, and one of our classes was a Ballet class, almost every morning, I was bound to be one of the good ones. Good so far? Okay. Now, the teacher that handled the advanced ballet class was a typical British woman-'nough said- with her posh accent and her tough love approach. Think J. K. Simmons on Whiplash. Classic right? The tough teacher who pushes the talent and makes their life a living hell so they are ready to face whatever is out there once they graduate etc etc...classic right? Yeah, kinda like that. No bleeding fingers, maybe toes. Hashtag pointe shoes.

 So, I was getting told off and corrected over the smallest arm move mistake, leg, hip, knee, pointy toe mistake...breathing mistake. I had actually been "trained" to deal with this "type" of teachers early on, as my ballet teacher during my teens wasn't exactly a softie either, but did his job amazingly. But I wasn't ready for this woman, oh no. You see, apparently my focusing and listening face  came across as defensive and uninterested at the time. And that was the problem. You know not to take it personally being attacked and corrected for your technique because you know the  teacher sees something in you and that's why they're pushing you, but when suddenly you're told these exact words: "you are so uninterested, and look like you do not care Katerina", oh I remember this like yesterday, it totally hits the crap out of you. 

And you do such a good job reacting professionally and mature and walking out at the end of the class with your head high after of course you have said back 'no way, I am very interested'. You walk out and you feel so mature for not breaking down or even tearing up. And then your fellow class mates go "unbelievable what happened in there, I don't know how you did it, I probably would have had a meltdown right there if that happened to me". And here. We. Go. It's exactly the same when you are not okay, do an awesome job holding it in until someone asks if you're okay and the waterfalls start. 

 The more I sat there weeping and boiling, the worse it became, you know how women work, they sit there overthinking everything and end up frying their brains out. And that was it, the whole thing had taken its toll by then for me and so I storm back in the room while she was still there packing up and threw THE LOUDEST and funniest, tantrum ever. Have never done this to a man, but yeah sure, I did it to my Ballet instructor. I sat her down and started mouthing with much little sense words like "how do you dare telling me that I am not interested, I work hard!!" and things like that, until the panic attack from all the pressure that everyone goes through at those Drama Colleges hit me hard. No need to describe it again, just re-read paragraph 3 if you need. And that's when she held me tight, helped me breathe normally again, calm down, get over myself, and told me the same thing. She pushed me because she saw something and the face thing. Well she had better warned me about it as soon as she noticed before it would be too late apparently. Imagine being in at a job, at an audition and looking at the director with an "uninterested and defensive" expression. Fair enough. 

 Needless to say that this woman became my mentor and tutor till the end of the year, whenever we had or needed one to one time with our mentor for advice she was the one I would run to. To this day she is the person I respect the most out of that school, won't forget and are still friends on Facebook with-lol. As a mentor and a teacher myself, even if clearly everyone has their own approach and chemistry with their students, her honesty is what I've taken away from her. Thank you.

Take this time to enjoy your Christmas. Take this time to be with the ones you love, take this time to appreciate what you have. You can start complaining again next week. Ta. Merry Christmas!~

Katerina

Season 2, Ep. 03

"X"

Ed Sheeran live you say? I say hooray. A simple but genius idea for a mother's day gift that spiralled into one of the finest weekends 'away'. Clearly by mother's day you understand we booked in May. And the concert was 3 days ago. Hashtag girl's gotta be prepared.

Ed. Boy do I love Ed's music. From day 1. I remember when I was under the impression that Rupert Grint, aka Ronald Weasly from Harry Potter had released a single when 'Lego House' came out. Lol. And then I became a fan. So when we heard that this little ginger genius is coming to New Zealand we couldn't resist. 

It was an all girls trip to one of the busiest and most visited cities of New Zealand. And my first time in Auckland. Auckland looks like a combination of 3 known big cities in my humble opinion. Athens, New York and Sydney. Have not visited Sydney yet but I will take up on my girlfriends' opinion about that. The main street, the harbour, the houses, the cafes and the super well dressed Aucklanders, it all left me with an excellent first impression. The weather very much helped, nice and warm, a sweet taste of pure summer. 

And now to the concert. First of all, a big thank you to the city for being so organised about this. Almost 100 free coach rides were available to take us to the venue and back once it was all finished. I mean, wow. Definitely saved us crowded, cramped queues to trains and standing still for an hour until we finally caught one. No. It was a smooth operation. 

When we arrived and sorted ourselves out regarding seats, drinks, quick toilet visit etc, we walked in half way through Passenger's performance as one of the two opening supporting acts. He was beautiful,just what you need when you first arrive at a concert, a calm solo acoustic musician to set the mood and sets us all in the right mind frame for the big Ed moment. Unfortunately as good as he was, I only know 'Let Her Go', which I bashed out singing along when he sang it with everyone else. Soon after he was done, Rudimental took on the stage and boy did they bring it all up a notch. Suddenly we're all in party mood, with their cheerful and catchy tunes, and here I am admitting that I had no idea I know so many songs of theirs. Yeah, I suck like that, I know songs but I never bother figuring out who they are by or titles etc. Anyway, Rudimental featured 4 main vocalists and they were all fab. Funny downside: half way through their set, the stadium had a massive power cut and everything went to silence! We waited until everything restarted and rebooted as fast as they could, but despite the blatant technical difficulty, no-one's mood was ruined or annoyed or whatever. Hashtag not the end of the world, hashtag don't want our money back.

Ed. As cheesy as he is, he is so the right kind of cheesy. First we got to see a footage of his steps in music, and how much he literally struggled to get to this point of singing live in front of 200k people audiences. And then he walked on stage. The first thing we all noticed is his All Blacks jersey. Cute and respectful. He starts singing, OH and by the way, his entire set was JUST him and his collection of guitars. He supported the entire show on his own, no other form of instrument support, no band, just a couple of backing singers, invisible to the naked eye-lol. But the graphics behind him made such a massive impact on the whole thing. Props to the graphic designers. Anyway, I'm losing my trail of thought, as soon as he finished his first song, he turned around to switch guitars and that's when everyone's hearts in the crowd melted. Not only was he wearing an All Blacks jersey but he was wearing no 11, aka Jonah Lomu's jersey. Hashtag footnote: for my non-Kiwi mates, Lomu was a rugby veteran, who changed the course of rugby as we know it as the youngest All Black in history and with a record of scores and tries. Sadly he passed away about a month ago at age 40 from kidney disease. Sadly. So yeah, Ed paid his massive respect and boy did every Kiwi appreciate this. He was on the news and everything. Bless.

This was Ed's final performance after 2.5 years of touring and boy did he follow up his promise to sing his heart out even if he ended up losing his voice the next morning. The entire stadium was lit up to everyone's phone torches and it looked magical. Funny how back in the day people used lighters ae. Torches are prettier. Favourite moment. 'Thinking Out Loud'. Of course. I was waiting for the chick from the video to pop on stage and do their little contemporary dance but I settled to just watching the video being played in the background. Pf, okay.

All in all, a fab experience, with fab people, fab weather and a fab concert. Thank you Ed. Thank you for being successful. Hashtag thinking out loud.

"I see fire"

Season 2, Ep. 2

Italia Conti.

 No, I still speak English. Italia Conti is a name. A pretty well known name for the wider London crowd and for a specific artistic crowd of Britain. Aka, my drama school. Full name, Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts. Founded by Ms Conti in 1910, with a line of successful, household names for alumni such as Judy Garland, Noel Coward, Peter Duncan, Naomi Campbell, Kelly Brook, Russel Brand, Martine McCutcheon, Sadie Frost, Pixie Lott, Leslie Phillips and of course moi. Har har har. Oh yeah it's a pretty good school. And I attended it in 2010. 100 years after it was found. Hashtag coincidence?

 Now, you must be wondering if Drama Schools are anything like in the movies. Pretty much. Same amount of drama, all of the loudness, all of the strenuous, hard work, same competitive spirit, same amount of bitchiness, love stories, heartbreaks, panic attacks, stories where you fall flat on your face and then rise to the occasion. And if you're wondering which of the above had happened to me, make that all of the above, minus maybe the love story. Sorry, nothing saucy here.

 BUT, when it comes to the competitive spirit, tick. Let's start with that. Number one. There's two types of competitive people. What I call, the good and the bad. The good, they learn to be competitive with themselves. They understand that at the end of the day we are all different, despite similarities, and we all have something different to bring to the table. So they make sure they beat their own version of themselves every day, and make the best out of who they are. Wise and noble ae. But I learnt first hand that this is and will always be and should be my type of competitive spirit. Of course we all have our bad competitive side, where we want to beat others by badmouthing, using strategies and schemes but what I've learnt, is that this competitive spirit, is short-term.

 What happens a lot at Drama Schools is favouritism. Or at least it happened in mine. Every minor showcase we were working on, suddenly more or less the same people would get the solos or the front line, or the best parts. Without auditioning. Nope. Teacher walked in, picked out 7-10 names, and say ''you get a solo, you get centre stage, you get this part", and that would be it. True story. And maybe, maybe, apologies for my slight bitchiness side here, but maybe, they weren't all that amazing or right for those parts, solos etc. Maybe, but hey, one woman's opinion. What did I do? Kept my head down, kept working on my skills and how to make them better. Lesson number two. Badmouthing, showing envy or getting bitchy is a vast waste of energy which leads to having no energy left for yourself and how you can become better. Trust me on this one.

 The end of the year, marked the major end of year show at London's Wimbledon theatre where we could invite not only family and friends but also agents and people from the industry. My year was assigned to a young teacher who used to give us singing lessons throughout the year, in order to create our performance. She was gonna be our director and vocal coach. The day we had our first meeting about our performance, she walked in and basically said "I don't care about favouritism, I don't believe in crap like that, either you are worth it or not and either you are right for the parts or not, you are all auditioning, you are all getting an equal chance to show me what you have". Finally some justice? Long story short, our performance was from the musical 'In The Heights', a Broadway show that had won a Tony Award that year for Best New Musical. Such a funky, fresh show with lots of energy and strong vocals. We all auditioned, I got the part. Ha. Hashtag, eyebrow flare. But that's not why I am telling this story. Besides, story is not over.

That was just the beginning. We had a couple of long months of rehearsals but over those two months, suddenly without realising I was starting to get some hate from some fellow chicks. Out of nowhere someone would put words in my mouth and rumours would start and I was getting attacked for saying something mean about someone when I really hadn't. Being bullied at Primary School, I kinda made sure I was never gonna end up being bitchy about anyone so believe me I was an innocent little shit getting attacked. Lol. And it never dawned on me then, that it was just because of the main part. I had the main part. Mmmm. Energy, wasted.
Anyway, no idea where these chicks are today and what they are up to, I learnt that those relationships were pretty fleeting for me. Hashtag sorry not sorry.

Be the big person. Grow every day, grow your best version of YOU every day. Haters gon'hate no matter what, where and when.

Next week, more drama, awesome teachers and my first panic attack.

Tootles.

Watch performance here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=odEVoeiJHac

Season 1, Ep. 09

PREVIOUSLY ON THE MOO POINT...

So here I am thinking that life is short and for what is worth, you should always pursue any passions and moments of happiness and since dogs have always been the juicy cherry on top of my passion cake, here I am being offered to get paid to look after them. It was a no brainer.

And boy was I loving it. Dogs are what they are. They all have their personalities, they all have their mannerisms that come from their homes, they never ever hold any grudges and most of all they sure know how to have a good time. That is the biggest lesson that working with dogs have taught me. I may have learnt how to teach them to sit and how to stop them from pulling the leash while they are on a walk, but the biggest lesson I'm taking away is that those four-legged best friends of ours, know how to live their lives to the fullest, they know how to have a good time whenever and wherever they are, whether they are alone or with friends, whether they have an entire park to run in or are stuck in a tiny box, a crate, a kennel, dogs know how what their life is about. And they value it. 

So it dawned on me that I may able to teach them not to chew on furniture for example or never ever to pee indoors again, but they certainly are the teacher when it comes to the right attitude. The attitude to grab that opportunity to make the fullest out of any situation we are put in. Quite deep ae? 

So dogs became my therapy as well as my passion, as well as my part time job. Spending time with them most days of the week even if it was for a couple of hours, took my mind of all the rest. All those little every day stresses that the London lifestyle provoked. Oh yeah rent is due again next week, oh that's right another audition I didn't get, oh my agent is pretty shit. Oh well I am walking my dogs now so all is hushed. This probably became and will always remain one of the best jobs I've had so far. The only downside, that boss o'mine. Downside would be sugar coating it. But more on that later. And that's my truth today. So. How are you?

Season 1, Ep. 07

SLAP

Remember Grey's Anatomy? Yeah, it's still going on so let me rephrase. Do you remember Grey's Anatomy until a couple of years ago, while it was still awesome? That's better.
So the Grey's Anatomy we all knew and loved had those poetic pep talk scenes, the dramatic 'rise to the occasion' scenes and most importantly the big 'slap in our face' scenes. That last one. That big slap in the face that you felt pretty much after every episode is what I'm gonna focus on. It has been my favourite long running TV show after Friends, and even though it could become 'too much happening and all at the same time' at times, if you think about it, individually, the accidents, the illnesses, the drama, the losses, the killings, they can all happen individually, and yes at the same time even, to anyone.
So my point being, slap in the face. Slap in the face to remind us how okay we are. We are okay. Hashtag OK.
Where the hell am I going with all this? Migrants. Thousands of unfortunate families and individuals who absolutely DID NOT chose to but had to leave their homes for a safer place. Not just a better place. No, a better place is what someone like me and you would move somewhere else for, a safer place. A place where they don't have to sleep under the bed with one eye open at night in case their home gets invaded and they get destroyed as a family in a few ways that I don't even want to type about. So basically, this is the wrong term to use about them. Refugees. Not migrants.
Enter media. First we hear on the news that they're 'invading' our countries. We roll our eyes. Then we stop for a second and think. We use our brains, media-free, and realise that they have every right to at least try to illegally enter a safer place. Of course each of these countries has to protect their borders, of course they have to protect their legal tax paying residents, of course, it is after all our patriotic duty. But it is also our human duty to understand that they have no choice, this is what we quite literally call a matter of life or death for them knowing that they can still lose the battle to enter another country and quite fatally. Bureaucracy-Shcmureaucracy, we are all people, we all breathe the same air.
Hashtag shoutout to the wealthy countries that are legally accepting big numbers of refugees in the next few days and providing them their safe land. Bra-vo. I may be twisting some bones here and causing rage to those who don't agree with my opinion but hey, my blog.
Getting right back to my initial point. Did you see the photo of the dead boy who got washed up by the sea? There's your slap in the face. We live in a free country where we are sleeping in our beds and with both eyes shut at night. So keep it humble you little stars, keep it real and be kind to one another. I stole that last one from Ellen DeGeneres...

www.twitter.com/kat_georgiou

Season 1, Ep. 02

             The "Lost" Phenomenon

   I feel like this blog will be much like the "Lost" series. Hashtag warning, there will be random flashbacks. Like a lot. MINUS the stupid, desperate ending to the story. I hope. It was nice how there were those flashbacks where we finally got to see the characters off that island looking decent. And technically I live on a island *purum pum tsss*.

   Isn't blogging awesome? I always loved writing but I never had the discipline to do it. I wrote a short screen play when this friend motivated me to do it as part of this American Short Film competition. The theme was the Greek recession. We had to write it, film it and submit it within 48 hours and incorporate our Greek flag in the story. Those were the rules. It was fun, and it did do very well I must brag. That's when I realised how much I enjoy writing. But blogging man, the old nanna in me thinks how neat it is to speak your mind about things and share it with people. Marvellous marvellous idea. 

   Since the Greek recession has been super hot in the media again this summer/winter, even here, I'm gonna talk about the short film a bit more. It's been over three years since we filmed it but 'somehow' it is still very current. We had asked two British actors to be in it and share their personal view on the country. What do they think of Greece. Their love for us was obvious. They know of the country as this beautiful, fun, friendly and carefree place on earth with its vast natural beauty. We incorporated their views in the story as well as their views on the recession crisis as much as we could. 

   To this day, no matter how much of a fever the media has caused due to the situation over there, our foreigners think of Greece as the land of Opa, Ouzo, sun, sea, moussaka, loud music and freedom. And if any of you amazing non-Greeks here don't understand any of these words, maybe it's time you booked your holiday to Greece, wink wink. Greek sea and sun not in crisis.

I left Greece almost a decade ago. But more on that next week *wink wink*

Ta, 

Katerina

PS: Feel free to check out the short film. It's pretty good. Check it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDKpmrMbDQo

For random mini-thoughts: https://twitter.com/kat_georgiou

Season 1. Ep. 01

                        Pilot:The Epiphany

I wake up for my normal middle of the night visit to the bathroom. But I had  a glass of wine with dinner last night and suddenly here I am having deep thoughts while lying in bed, not able to go back to sleep, thinking about starting a blog. "Yeah I can do this!", my self-pep talk. Drinking, not my thing. So a bit of wine brought me right here. 
What I'm gonna talk to you about is something that I'll probably figure out along the way. All I know is that I won't talk about one thing. I am not a fashion blogger, I am not Jamie bloody Oliver but I do love talking about travelling, arts, relationships and Tv. I used to act, I still choreograph, I teach, I use to train dogs and I also worked for friggin' Abercrombie and Fitch for 5 whole years. I have met, worked for and heard things about celebrities but don't expect any of that dirt from me. I am just showing off. Trust me it's all true stories. Actors being liars is a myth. Besides, I am not one anymore. 
You may find something to relate with in here. Pretty sure you can relate to some broken heart stories. Oh and by the way, I was born in Greece, lived in London for 9 years since 18, and then followed my heart all the way to New Zealand. So yeah, YOLO. Tag along. 

  
                                 https://instagram.com/katerinageorgiou/