#hmt watches

[thehourmarkers]

Watchmaking and clockmaking share a deep, intrinsic connection that spans centuries of horological history. At their core, both disciplines revolve around the precise measurement and display of time through intricate mechanical movements. The fundamental principles and technical challenges faced by watchmakers and clockmakers are strikingly similar.

We caught up with Vianney Halter to understand more about his relics of the future, a fascination for vintage items and more!

THM: You started at the young age of 14, and then worked as a pendulum clock repairman. Tell us about your journey so far.

Vianney Halter at his workshop

Initially, my interest was not in creating new watches but rather in repairing and understanding the workings of antique and vintage timepieces. I was drawn to discovering the different constructions, complications, and ingenious solutions employed in their design. Creating my own watches came later, almost by chance. Although watchmaking was in decline in the late 1970s when I began studying it at 14, I was undeterred, lured by the intrigue of antique horology more than any prospects of commercial success. My motivations were rooted in a childhood fascination with the inner workings of timekeepers.

THM: Has there been any watchmaker that has inspired you on this journey?

Workshop (copyright-Ed.Nguyen)

I spent hours studying the impressive antique clocks, particularly the works of Antide Janvier from the late 18th/early 19th century. His innovative mechanisms and technical architecture for displaying time mesmerized me — the golden age of watchmaking. Janvier’s pieces deeply inspired my perspective on this art. I also admired the work of contemporary Paul Garnier, whose intricate machine constructions behind the dials were engineering marvels. The astronomical devices by clockmakers like Le Roy & Modele families, with their precise complications, further stoked my fascination.

THM: As an independent watchmaker, what were the challenges you faced to establish your brand?

Anitqua

Unexpectedly, I transitioned from just being a supplier to an independent watchmaker with my own designs. As my customer base grew, my distinctive style combining historical inspiration with modern, almost science-fiction elements became recognized. While still a bench watchmaker at heart, I’ve become more — using my experience and skills to create unique pieces that inspire new generations with a free perspective different from the industry. Chance allowed me to avoid being confined to a single company, instead forging my own independent path in watchmaking.

THM: You’re known to produce watches in a limited number. Is there an ideology behind that?

Classic Janvier

Occasionally I deliberately restrict a model to a very small limited number, like only 12 pieces for the Classic Janvier or Anniversary of Liberty editions. This is not to artificially market it as “limited”, but because making just 12 examples is an immense workload representing potentially half of what I can produce in a year. Capping the number allows me to move on and explore new designs and complications, rather than being consumed by one popular model’s success.

Money provides freedom to invest in exploring new horizons, “to seek out new life and new civilizations”, as they say. But wealth itself is not the end goal, to die the richest person in the cemetery. I prefer spending my money during my lifetime than hoarding it.

THM: What is your team like at the workshop?

La Resonance (Credits: The Horophile)

THM: Your latest Art Deco Metropolis watch pays homage to the 1920s industrial design movement. How did you translate those design principles into a modern wristwatch?

Art Deco Metropolis

As for the Resonance, I had dreamed of creating that technical solution 25 years ago, and finally brought it to life when the right conditions aligned — my motivation, the team’s enthusiasm, and a suitable design direction. My creative process isn’t formulaic or driven by rigid targets. It flows naturally as we discuss ideas, get inspired by each other’s work, experiment at the workbench, and gravitate towards concepts that resonate.

THM: How has India been as a market for you and are you looking to explore further?

Vianney: While India has historically been a challenging market for my unconventional designs, I’m hopeful the younger generation there and elsewhere will connect with the deeper meaning behind my work — the spirit of sharing unique perspectives, human experiences and emotions transcending pure timekeeping. My pieces are an expression of the time and passion invested in creating something extraordinary.

THM: You’ve done some interesting collaborations. If there was a dream collaboration which one would it be?

Deep Space Tourbillon

From my early days creating pieces to the design explorations with Harry Winston, collaborations open up possibilities that might never have materialized working independently. It takes a company’s advertising power and reach to truly share your work globally. Collaborations require finding a balance between your vision and compromising on aspects you may dislike. But that friction pushes you out of your comfort zone, adapting to different business perspectives. It’s a way to connect with broader audiences who may not have access to your mainline pieces. I enjoy meeting people from different fields — movies, art, science — as collaborations expose you to new circles you’d never encounter alone.

THM: What can we expect from Vianney Halter in the future?

Vianney: Ultimately, we are highly motivated to create watches. The Art Deco Metropolis was an important step for me, as it transformed industrial 19th century design into a contemporary 20th century style that I found fascinating. Going forward, I plan to develop complications for different models stemming from this original design. On another front, I’m working on a complicated piece with a futuristic space and science fiction inspired perspective. This contrasts with another watch design I first drew 25 years ago, which serendipitously resurfaced recently for us to develop further.

I hope to launch these contrasting pieces encapsulating my roots and future vision within the next 2–4 years. It will be an intriguing blend of where I came from and where I see myself going. Additionally, I have ongoing collaborations where I meld my viewpoints with others. Considering the production schedule, many exciting developments lie ahead over the next decade!

[fob4ever]

fob going on tour with green day was like. baby semi-closested queer platonic polycule being taken under the wing by a elder more established fully out queer gay throuple who isnt afraid to suck and fuck infront of complete strangers. tortured gay people vs gay people who torture each other

[hermajestytak]

NOT THE "STOP MAKING BABIES" SIGN IN WALK OF DOOM

[ten-thousand-piece-suit]

HMT Sherpa

[demonicdeviation]

Natalya and Alexei! my ‘end of the world’ ocs. Some info about them lifted from discord messages to my friends under the cut 

He's (Alexei) the deuteragonist along side an angry, traumatized 15 year old girl named Natalya that he acts kind of like an older brother to and a voice of reason (because someone needs to tell this hurting lonely child that you can reason your way out of a conflict and that stabbing isn't the only option)

tldr for the setting is that America dropped a nuclear bomb on the Ural Mountains in like 1985 and it cut the USSR the west off from Siberia completely, the rest of the world is falling apart but the story only really focuses on Siberia as a setting

technically they're Handmaids Tale ocs but I'm just taking the end of the world scenario Attwood set up and running with it in the complete opposite direction, I watched a single episode and went "americas a fundamentalist shitshow with sex slavery but how's the rest of the world handling the end of the world" and that led me to making these guys

[robertogreco]

This was posted by me to a watch forum in March 2022. As with many of the posts that I made there, I have begun adding them to this Tumblr as a record of that time for me and of my wristwatch-related meanderings.

When a story is about something else, but a watch plays a very important role

In a very recent article in Wired, “Trapped in Silicon Valley’s Hidden Caste System,” an HMT (Hindustan Machine Tools) watch – a photo from the story is above – is described right out the gate and is referred to throughout. Here is the opening:

“SIDDHANT WAS 14 when he learned of the watch. His father, a low-wage worker on the Indian railway, was trying to save up for it, tucking away a few rupees when he could. Made of steel, the watch had in its dial a sketch of a portly man, his face framed by round glasses and his broad shoulders clad in a wide-lapelled jacket. It was his father’s hero, Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar, the man most responsible for weakening the caste system’s grip on Indian society. After school, Siddhant liked to ride his bike down the crowded streets of Nagpur, India, past groups of kids playing cricket, to a squat concrete building where his father rented a modest office with his friends, all anti-caste activists. Inside, he’d find the men sitting in plastic chairs, swapping tales of their exploits with Ambedkar, surrounded by posters of the man and newspapers spilling off bookshelves. As he sat listening, Siddhant couldn’t help but notice as one friend and then another and a third appeared at the office with the watch strapped to their wrists. One day, Siddhant showed up on his bike and, to his immense surprise, saw on his father a different version of the watch. A gift from a big-shot friend, this one was comparatively luxe. Instead of the metal strap it had a leather band, and it was quartz, battery-powered rather than a windup. Siddhant couldn’t help but blurt out: “I want that watch!” Siddhant, like his father, is a Dalit, a member of the most oppressed caste in South Asia’s birth-based hierarchy. Even among Dalits, their family was especially poor. Siddhant sometimes spent his evenings crouched near the firepit where his family cooked their food, repairing his torn rubber sandals with a hot iron rod that melted the straps back onto the sole. Seeing his father’s watch, something clicked: This was a symbol of everything he was after—to be an elite, educated Dalit, just like Ambedkar. Siddhant’s father made him a deal. If Siddhant finished high school with first honors, he could have the watch. A year later, Siddhant came home brandishing his report card from the Maharashtra board of education: He’d done it. While his father, beaming, scanned the results, Siddhant grabbed the watch off a shelf and adjusted the strap to his wrist. Siddhant has worn the watch nearly every day since—while riding his bike 12 miles to college, while earning his first paycheck as an engineer, while getting married. When he flew across the Atlantic to start a tech career in the San Francisco Bay Area, he wore it. It was on his wrist when he interviewed for, and landed, the job that convinced him he might finally escape the orbital pull of India and his family’s multigenerational poverty: as a software engineer at Facebook, with an offer package that totaled almost $450,000.

[earlgreytea68]

I had no idea you were going to be at the MSG show, but CONGRATS on getting to witness the majesty of "Get Busy Living" live! And William Beckett, and "Just One Yesterday" on piano with Daisy Grenade! That must have been amazing!

I knew this show was going to be bonkers, but we were not prepared at all.

I just love that Pete was so nervous to record his part of the "Get Busy Living" bridge for the album, that he did it in a bathroom so no one could watch him, and now here he is performing it in one of the most famous venues in the world, and staring right at Patrick as he says THOSE words!

This truly is the Era of healing, indeed....

I kept it quiet because I have so much leftover issues from HMT, I never want to jinx a Fall Out Boy show, I'm never sure it's going to happen until it actually happens.

I wasn't sure I was going to go, as I don't live in New York, but I am SO GLAD I did, the show was unbelievable.

And Pete was SO nervous and I think he was nervous again and Patrick was like, "We can do this!" And they did it. Era of healing, definitely. Pete has gradually gotten more and more comfortable doing his bits in the songs on stage. It's a different kind of performing and he finally feels like he's blossomed into it.

And possibly Pete stared right at Patrick BECAUSE he was nervous and his instinct is to go to Patrick for guidance on stage. Which doesn't make it any less shippy than if he did it deliberately to sing it to Patrick hahahaha

[glasskey]

THT Redemption Arcs

I’m going to be running through some story and character analysis for THT in the weeks to come and I’m going to start out by talking a little bit about the difference in redemptive arcs. For those of you who aren’t clear about what a redemption arc is, it’s essentially a story line woven into your characters narrative to enable them to redeem themselves from previous questionable actions. There are some great examples in The Handmaids Tale, almost 100% of our characters are morally grey and they’ve all got a vivid history with a bit of baggage, so we’ve got a lot to choose from. Whenever a character performs a redemption arc, essentially 2 things need to happen for it to be considered complete: Firstly, your character has to truly be sorry and try and make amends. Secondly, other characters have to acknowledge that they are truly sorry and in some respects forgive them. We also have 2 different types of redemption arcs; slow and sudden. Basically, the character will either have an epiphany of all the crappy things that they have done and suddenly beg for forgiveness (usually at the last minute) OR said character will see the error of their ways through slow observation and work to be a better individual. With that in mind let’s take a look at some of our characters and see what kind of redemption arc they have.

Fred: Fred is one of the primary reasons that Gilead even exists, from the word go he was never getting a free pass no matter he did. For Fred, his Achilles heel is his quest for power which is constantly undermined by the impotence he feels at not being able to father a child. Freds desire for power fosters a sense of self entitlement that seeks to enslave June, while his impotence breeds an anger that alienates him from the woman who once loved him. His ego is ultimately his downfall and we see it in all its forms almost to his dying breath. While Fred may have acknowledged what he did was wrong, his attempt at redemption was driven purely by selfish motives and as a result the other characters did not forgive him. Fred attempted a sudden redemption arc and ended up doing an epic face plant. Instead of forgiveness he got an incredibly satisfying smack in the mouth and a “you had this coming” from Nick, and was hunted down and torn to shreds by the object of his desire. Redemption arc: Epic Fail. Result: some serious poetic justice.

Serena: Serena was Freds’ co conspirator so she’s responsible for some pretty heinous stuff, not to mention personally torturing the protagonist. She’s truly Machiavellian and consistently falls into the “sorry, not sorry” camp depending on what day of the week it is, making her attempt at a serious redemption arc difficult to swallow for anyone. Characters with the capacity for this much malice will generally perform a sudden redemption arc toward the end, finally achieving forgiveness, but sacrificing themselves as payment. Oddly the writers have chosen to engage Serena in a slow redemptive arc over the course of season 5, having swallowed some of her own poetic justice. I remain unconvinced, all this bonding with the protagonist, pouting and tears wont erase seasons of cruelty. Serena is a monster who's only sorry she lost her monster pal. Redemption Arc: still in progress, most likely successful. Most likely fatal

Aunt Lydia: Oh Dear. It’s hard to come back from shit this bad, but we know from The Testaments that our favourite super cuddly Aunt with a cattle prod, is due for a redemption arc. Watching The HMT and judging by The Testaments, it appears that she will be performing a slow redemption arc, which serves her purposes as she’s going to be busy working for the resistance. Ultimately the scales of justice demand balance and there’s no way the average viewer / reader would think that it’s a fair deal that she goes back to an ordinary life, once she’s served her purpose. Like Serena its justified she sacrifice herself as payment and there’s also the small matter of Aunt Lydia not being able to forgive herself. This brings me to Janine, I can definitely see Janine being a catalyst for Aunt Lydia’s break with Gilead. The nature of the protagonist in The Handmaids Tale is that she is a lone voice and as such June is what we refer to as “The Final Girl”, the last one left to tell the tale. This does not bode well for Janine. Redemption arc: Ultimately successful (in some respects).

Luke: Let’s face it, no matter which way you slice it, he’s no angel. He cheated on his wife and he left June and Hannah in Gilead because he was scared. What do these two things have in common? Leaving when the chips are down. From the description in Atwood’s text, Luke was always intended as a character who portrayed the casual misogyny that exists in the world. He’s been toned down somewhat for the show but it’s still there, lurking under the facade of our devoted “nice guy”. This is absolutely intentional, he’s described as a “good man” and he is, but there are plenty of times that he falls short and just doesn’t get it. He’s been performing a slow redemption arc over season 5 and it reached a crescendo in episode 10 at the train station when he sacrificed himself for the good of the protagonist. Most notable was the instance where he acknowledged her independence by using her maiden last name. He’s going to have to pay penance for the times he left though and thus the incarceration by Gilead forces. Redemption arc: Still in progress but promises to be successful.

Nick Blaine: I want to be honest about Nick, I love him but he’s done some bad shit. The writers have hinted as much and there’s plenty of evidence. Far from a clean well-mannered lawn boy, Nick Blaine is in fact, shady as fuck. This isn’t a mistake, after all, what good would a clean cut boy be to June when what she actually needed was a dodgy rebel to help her get things done in Gilead? When June says “he helped me to survive”, what she really means is that Nick was a navigator around all the dark dangers of Gilead and you don’t know about those unless you’ve seen them first hand. Nicks been performing a slow redemption arc since the end of season one. He was always good hearted, demonstrating loyalty to a broken family and looking openly distressed over the death of a handmaid. He’s also a bit of a rebel, he doesn’t follow the rules and doesn’t seem to quite fit in, all of this making him ultimately easier to welcome back to an ordinary life when he finally reaches the end of his journey. Nicks redemption arc is interesting because it not only requires other characters to forgive him, but he also needs to forgive himself. He’s been referred to as “a good man in Gilead” for a few seasons now, Tuello also called him “an honourable man”, but the reality is he’s still going to have to prove his loyalty by doing some time undercover. It's his penance. Ep 10 S5 saw Nick Blaine refer to himself as “Nothing”, he feels worthless and he’ll need to forgive himself before he can come home. For Nicks redemption arc to be considered complete he needs to step across the border and stay there. He needs to hold his daughter. Slow redemption arcs generally involve one last battle against your foe and Ep 10 S 5 saw Nick make preparations for his final battle against Gilead.  The walk across the bridge in ep 10 and the deal with Tuello signified a redemption arc construct now fully fortified and nearing completion. Redemption arc: In progress. Promises to be successful. Promises to be fucking epic.

The majority of redemption arcs in THT are slow, the only time I’ve seen a sudden redemption arc attempted, it failed miserably. This says a lot about what the writers actually believe about the nature of redemption; anything less than something that you work towards every day, is an illusion. The writers have worked hard to maintain a level of reality and in the real world, people don’t just immediately forgive you because YOU decided to apologize. You need to earn their trust back and work hard to repair that wound. Sudden redemptive arcs are like the kiss of death, I can’t count the amount of times I’ve watched a character weep with remorse only to die seconds later. Slow redemptive arcs are a bit trickier, your character may survive it or not and this decision is based ultimately on how deep the wound they inflicted is.

[susansontag]

I read HMT and watched season 1 for a literature class and I was the only one who liked the book and hated the show but it felt like it took out a bunch of meaningful stuff…

like when one of the actresses said “well we have more poc in the show because it should’ve been more diverse” but the whole point was that Gilead was white supremacist… or giving offred a completely different personality? stuff like that just bothered me, ykwim?

mm this is interesting. I won't lie, I think with all shows that are based on books, sometimes changes can be made to the show that don't necessarily make it 'better' than the book, but make it better as a show, and I kind of thought not having an all-white cast was a plus for the show in the same way making a point about a white fundamentalist christian ethnostate was a plus for the book. I guess they could have had nonwhite actors play parts in the colonies (isn't this where loads of people are sent in the book?), but idk I kind of think the show stretches believability at points anyway in the way the book didn't and the idea they'd give up the opportunity to potentially have more children just because they weren't white seems silly to me when looked at from the show's perspective. just my opinion though ofc. I also really like samira wiley as moira lmao. I do agree with you though that what the actress said misses that point of the book though, it's supposed to be taking a distinctly extremist white american viewpoint and running with it to its conclusion, and that obviously means there will be segregation and racism in the book's world

I can't really remember offred's personality in the book, it's been too many years since I've read it. I guess they've had to really flesh out side characters in general bc I don't remember many of the other handmaids being this important in the book (like ofglen was not this prominent?) so I guess they did that w her too. I sort of feel the show lacks this distinct haunting quality that comes from not quite knowing enough though but well. idk how they could've replicated that lol. I dislike all the moments that sort of make it feel like the hunger games though daksdkas

[tussive]

Watches are still stupid, but because of the time I followed a bunch of watch sellers on Etsy when I thought they were cool for like 12 hours, I do see a lot of them. And honestly the ones by HMT are kind of cool.

Etc, not my thing ultimately, but they do look nice.

[thehourmarkers]

Piaget Celebrates Its 150th Anniversary By Offering The Polo 79

The Piaget Polo 79 gets a 38 mm solid gold case in 7.45 mm thickness paired with a dazzling yellow gold bracelet. The watch celebrates Piaget’s foray into the hyped frontiers of integrated design timepieces and with the latest release, marks a rebirth of the brand’s true soul.

The heritage inspired piece is crafted entirely from 18-carat yellow gold featuring Piaget’s hallmark finishing standards. The dial, case as well as the bracelet get the signature horizontal parallel hardoons of the original Polo. This ribbed pattern features alternations of brushed and mirror polished surfaces to give the overall piece an impressive dynamic flair and soul.

[justzawe]

Sorry if I missed this conversation, but I'm watching HMT and I thought she was going to be in this season? I thought she was in Canada filming with the cast? Unless she pops up in the next 2 episodes...

She’s in season 4! The new episodes are season 5.

[hermajestytak]

You know it's Invader Zim when the sky being blue instead of apocalypse red is a BIG deal

[ten-thousand-piece-suit]

HMT PILOT

[lost-the-plot-reviews]

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (UK Tour) – 2023 Production (Original Production 25th Jun 2013)

Dir. James Brining           Based on the novel by Roald Dahl

Book: David Greig            Music: Marc Shaiman      Lyrics: Scott Wittman & Marc Shaiman

Date watched: Mar 17, 2023  Venue: His Majesty’s Theatre, Aberdeen

TW: Poverty, Obesity, Comic Violence and Child Abuse, Alcoholism.

Synopsis: In the shadow of a famous chocolate factory, Charlie Bucket lives in a decrepit shack with his overworked mother and four bedridden grandparents. When the mysterious Willy Wonka offers a VIP money can’t buy tour of his factory, Charlie and his family set their hopes on being one of the lucky five people who find a golden ticket in one of Wonka’s chocolate bars. By sheer luck modest Charlie joins four spoilt children and their families on a wacky tour that will change their lives for better or worse. Based on Roald Dahl novel of the same name this 2013 musical adaption takes you through the magical world of Willy Wonka through the eyes of the ever optimistic Charlie Bucket.

Rating: 3/5

Review: I want to preface this that going to the theatre is almost never a waste of time and I would highly recommend this show to anyone, particularly if you have children as this show makes a great family show with a familiar story and characters to get lost in. However I ultimately wasn’t as wowed as I expected to be. The tickets were not the cheapest I have seen Aberdeen offer and the show was running longer than the usual 5-6 days at the venue, so I was gearing up for a big spectacle. Now this show has spectacle, yes. An example would be the rubbish pile set piece adapted from the original London production that hides Mrs Pratchett’s sweet shop. The Bucket’s house with all the grandparents lying in a bed in the attic whilst Mrs Bucket makes cabbage soup below and Charlie climbs between them. The practical effects in this show are fantastic, for a touring production that at some points appears low budget, the quality of the effects and the way the actors effortlessly pull them off is admittedly a lot of fun. But this show relies a lot on screens and projections, sometimes this was successful and other times it made the stage feel empty and it took me out of the immersion. The second half which has better songs and story - Willy Wonka barely features in the first half – is unfortunately very reliant on projections to create the chocolate factory scenes. For people that know the story all the pivotal factory scenes feature one to two large set pieces that although mostly functional for the story appear cheap in comparison to the set pieces in the first half, I believe the first half pieces are either original to the first production or have been adapted from that original production. If you are familiar with the West End show that opened in 2013 – I didn’t get the chance to see it but remember the trailers and the TV doc - than you might be aware that the production values in the second half were just as high as the first with huge interactive backdrops and puppetry. The Oompa-Loompas actually made sense in that production, compared to this touring one, where they are played as robots that look suspiciously like Cybermen in a doctor who episode from 1966.

In the wake of the pandemic and a current cost of living crisis, it ultimately makes sense why this production is scaled back. Even when this show moved to Broadway it lost a fair bit of production value. Smaller set pieces that would stop the stage feeling so empty would not have gone amiss such as candy foliage in the chocolate room or more control panels in the TV or inventing rooms. I understand that as a touring production they have to accommodate for different stages – At HMT, for example, we were missing the second set piece/platform for the nut room – But smaller props and set pieces are more versatile in this way and could be moved about and swapped out when needed. I’m not sure how I would change the Oompa-Loompas because they felt like an afterthought but it was because they wanted to feature a diverse ensemble and unless there is a lower budget way to bring back the puppet illusion I am not sure but the weird robot narrative felt off. The saving grace with the projections was the way the cast interacted with them, there’s a magical moment mid show where Wonka appears to throw a pixie dust type light back and forth through the screen as he sings ‘Pure Imagination’ to the children welcoming them into the chocolate room. Most of the illusions are well done but I was able to work them all out from the back of the balcony, compared to last year’s tour of Bedknobs and Broomsticks where after two viewings in different venues I still don’t know how most of the illusions work. However I am impressed with the creativity involved in showing how a character falls in a chocolate river and gets sucked through a pipe, or turns in a blueberry, or is teleported and shrunk into a television live on stage. It would be an insult to not call it ambitious and I think all these scenes were executed successfully.

I am not too familiar with any of the music from the show outside of the one or two songs from the 1971 film. I didn’t find any of the songs particularly memorable and occasionally the lyrics were a little bit too wordy especially when sung over a loud and complex score that I felt I could have needed subtitles. Some of the lyrics were original Dahl lyrics so it could maybe explain that but weirdly because I know those lyrics quite well, those songs were the few I was able to successfully make out. Kudos to the lead Noah Walton playing Charlie on this particular night, I could clearly hear everything he was singing and his acting was spot on. Genuinely no shade to the cast, I do not believe they were at fault, could be the original score and or the sound mixing wasn’t to standard. Also genuinely cannot really remember any of the songs three days after seeing this show so yeah don’t think I’ll add this to my musicals playlist anytime soon. As mentioned the cast were phenomenal, I wasn’t sure how I would feel with adults playing the other four children besides Charlie but it absolutely worked. Good trans representation here with Teddy Hinde playing Mike Teavee and Robin Simões da Silva playing Augustus Gloop (I saw Robin in Bedknobs last year so was excited to see him again in this show playing a principal part). Also hard of hearing actor Leonie Spilsbury plays Mrs Bucket and rather appropriately the show has incorporated sign language in her scenes which is nice to see, but sometimes you feel like if it can be incorporated it so easily there why not include it in the whole show à la Deaf West but maybe that is still a pipe dream. The iconic Willy Wonka was played by Gareth Snook, if you like a darker more sarcastic Wonka then he is your man. If you are more protective of the whimsical charm of Gene Wilder’s Wonka (though many would disagree with me but I always found Wilder both creepy and angry, and no I am not a Johnny Depp stan), then maybe Snook’s interpretation won’t be your cup of tea. I really enjoyed Snook as Wonka, I was worried I wouldn’t, but the car was divided on the way home so I understand he won’t be for everyone.

I found this show to be a lot of fun even though it has been scaled down and reliant on screens to tell the story. It was an enjoyable show that I am glad I got the chance to see. Also it makes me happy seeing the sheer amount of children in the auditorium as someone who fell in love with musicals as a child, I have no doubt that this show would have brought me so much happiness and wonder if I had first seen it at that age. Even though I know the plot pretty much inside out I still found myself rooting for Charlie to find an elusive golden ticket and got goose-bumps when he did. This show has a lot of the magic from the original Dahl story so you can’t really go wrong. It isn’t the best I have seen but really not a bad production by any means and I would still recommend it.

[donutwares]

On my wrist this 6am, Indian-made HMT hand-winding. $13 shipped off the 'Bay. On a cheap surplus Chinese Baltany NATO band in olive green.

Jesus would approve. In a vision, He handed me a blue Orient Mako in exchange for my "junk watch" What a weird dream. I have no liking for Orient divers, sorry Jeez.

[edit : that's just a shadow on my arm]