‘Personals’ is a musical comedy about the numerous problems and perils of searching for love through personal ads. It follows the whole process, from the reducing yourself to fifteen words, to finding a compatible advert, to the date itself.  The play features six characters, all in different situations, some divorced and one even married. These characters are predominantly kept separate, for the most part having independent sketches that don’t intertwine.  Intermixed with these are numerous brief sketches from a host of other singles, including a desperate high school teen and several singing about controlling mothers. All of the characters are played by the small cast of six, but the effective use of simplistic costumes means there is hardly ever confusion.

Though funny in themselves, the additional characters interrupt the show rather than enhance it; their presence impedes involvement with the main six characters, making their occasional appeals for empathy from the audience ineffective.  This, combined with the separate plot lines of each main character, means that not enough time is spent on each to drum up interest in their character or plot. The performance drags slightly because of this, and forms a two-hour musical sketch show rather than a cohesive musical play.

               The sketches and songs vary a lot in both quality and humour. They are often intelligent and witty, but do occasionally just sink into the crude.   A highlight is the man learning from a tape the ‘tips of dating’. It’s a whole relationship on a cassette, in easy bite sized lessons.  Antony Gibson is superb in this role; thankfully, it is one of the main characters that is returned to.  Undermining this high point are uncomfortable jokes about bestiality and transvestite dwarfs, fully complemented with words and actions.
               Though there are a few problems with the play itself, the cast is talented.   They bring out the comedy of the pieces effectively, and are musically impressive.  Philly Lopez frequently outshines the others vocally, but this is due to her proficiency rather than their insufficiency.  Altogether, ‘Personals’ combines catchy tunes, a very able cast, moments of brilliant comedy (both from the writing and performance), and makes for an enjoyable enough evening – you just have to, occasionally, wait a little too long between laughs.
Personals, OFS 9^th –13^th October 

Welcome to Michelmas 2007! Calendars are funny things. As most of my readers say goodbye to summer, I am fully into winter, bundled up in my house, guarding against New England frost and planning research for final term papers. But since it's the beginning of a new year in Oxford time, let me re-introduce this blog. Once a week, I'll be posting my thoughts on web 2.0 and generation Y, and trying to identify how technology defines our lifestyles, our politics and the culture around us. To begin the term, however, I need to update you all on some changes in my personal encounter with web 2.0. Just before the end of last term. Facebook opened its doors to everyone, and suddenly I was friends with my mother, my former boss and my 15-year old sister. I also found that companies were writing applications inviting me to play zombie and food fight. As a summer intern at BusinessWeek Magazine, I wrote about this new and "improved" social network and how it could mean big bucks for Facebook and smart application developers.But towards the end of the summer, I realized that one important group was losing out: us, the original student users.Frankly, I'm fed up with this new Facebook, with the frantic chaos of the News Feed and the applications, with the random friend requests from middle aged strangers who want to take me out for drinks. I'm confused that Slate magazine, a mainstream, grown-up publication is proscribing Facebook etiquette that matches what i wrote on this blog over the summer (see "my cyber-friends have manners too"). Why should my parents and I have the same social behaviors?I can already forsee that once I graduate in May, I won't be using Facebook to keep in touch with classmates. This year at Brown, my friends and I are using cell phones and emails instead and waiting for the next young people-only venue to resume our social media lives. I wrote a column about my changing perspective for the newspaper here at Brown and sent some comments into BusinessWeek. There's a teaser of my thoughts on my editor's blog , and an article due out soon. The response I've had to the column suggests I'm right about student sentiment here in the States, but I'm putting it to my Oxonian readers: is there a parallel shift away from Facebook on your side of the pond?

Former Balliol student Oliver Smithies will receive the 2007 Nobel Prize for Medicine, it was revealed yesterday.He, along with Martin J Evans and Mario R Capecchi, has been awarded after developing a technology for manipulating genes in mice, which is now used in nearly all areas of biomedicine. The techniques have led to new insights into conditions including heart disease and cancer, as well as aiding the development of new therapies.Smithies, who began his BA in Chemistry in 1946, is the Excellence Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine. He is also an Honourary Fellow of Balliol.The announcement of the Medicine Award marks the start of the 2007 cycle of Nobel Prize winners, with the final awards revealed on October 15. Historically, Science is dominated by the Americans, but with two Britons winning the accolade for Medicine, the UK has had a good start.

Germany's favourite war of words is back. Arsenal goalkeeper Jens Lehmann has never taking a liking to compatriot Oliver Kahn, who's been competing with him for the no. 1 spot in the German national team for years. Now Lehmann tells the German magazine Der Spiegel that his nemesis "likes making himself look important" and that he doesn't like it when people talk themselves up. Judging by both keepers' form (Kahn's injured, Lehmann's suffered a crisis of errors this season), I suggest the two of them stop the chat and get back to what they're paid to do.Cherwell 24 is not responsible for the content of external sites

The University has received a £2.5 million boost for studies of Modern Japan.
Oxford has been chosen as one of 13 UK Universities to receive the funding from The Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation and The Nippon Foundation, a Tokyo-based private grant making body.
The cash will be used to create a Career Development Fellowship, the Sasakawa Lectureship, which will be held jointly between the Department of Sociology and the Nissan Institute of Japanese Studies.
Dr Ian Neary, Director of the Nissan Institute, said, "This generous support from the Sasakawa Foundation will fill an important gap in the teaching of social sciences at Oxford by enabling us to appoint someone able to work on key issues troubling Japanese society."
The Earl of St Andrews, Chairman of the Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation, said, "Japan remains the world’s second largest economy and one of the UK’s most important partners for both trade and investment. Expertise in Japanese language and in the country’s economy, culture, history and politics will remain essential if the British-Japanese relationship is to prosper and British interests in relation to Japan are to be safeguarded."

Zoologists at Oxford University are using newly developed video devices to record crows in the wild.
Scientists have developed miniaturised video cameras, each weighing about 14 grams, which can be attached to two tail feathers using adhesive tape.
The device is allowing researchers to track 18 crows in their natural habitat, allowing them to make surprising and intimate observations about their undisturbed behaviour. This technique has been described as helping scientists to break "one of the final frontiers of ornithological field research."
Dr Christian Rutz from the Behavioural Ecology Research Group at the Zoology Department said "Whilst video footage has been taken before using tame, trained birds, it is only now that we have been able to design cameras that are small and light enough to travel with wild birds and let them behave naturally.
"Potentially, this new video technology could help us to answer some long-standing questions about the ecology and behaviour of many other bird species that are otherwise difficult to study."To learn more, visit http://www.newcaledoniancrow.com.
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Police in Oxford have been cutting down on cyclists riding through pedestrianised areas of the city this week.
In the second crackdown in three weeks, 71 people were caught ignoring the bans on Cornmarket and Queen Street, with 25 receiving £30 fines in Cornmarket, and a further 46 fined in Queen Street.
While many cyclists are against the ban, stating that signposting and boundaries are not obvious, many others believe that the bans are necessary to make cyclists more aware of the danger they put themselves and others in to when ignoring the rules of the road.
Local police report that "This will now be a routine operation" and that cyclists should expect regular surveillance of the area.

Police are looking to reduce trouble on Halloween this year through a poster campaign.
The plan is to distribute posters to residents saying 'Sorry, no trick or treat here' to dissuade trick-or-treaters from visiting certain houses, allowing residents to avoid disturbance. The scheme is aimed to protect elderly and vulnerable people, making the day safer and fun for all.
Steve Smith, for Thames Valley Police, said "The idea behind the campaign is to make Halloween as enjoyable as possible for those who want to celebrate the occasion.
"We don't want to stop anyone from enjoying themselves, but we do want to try, as far as possible, to reduce incidence of behaviour that may leave people frightened, or which puts people in danger or at a disadvantage."
The posters and flyers can be downloaded from http://www.thamesvalley.police.uk/reduction/saferhomes/safehome/safe6.htm or picked up from your local police station.
Cherwell24 is not responsible for the content of external links.

Former Oxford University student Benji Tucker was awared the High Sheriff's award for bravery, after he confronted a thief in October of last year.While walking home to his flat, Tucker heard screams coming from Roger Dudman Way. After deciding to investigate the noise, he discovered Priyanka Sharma fighting Elvis Springer for her handbag. Springer began to run off, and Tucker followed."I ran after the bike until I'd caught up with him. I got the bag back and then he smacked me round the head with his metal bike lock."I didn't think of it being dangerous when I initially started running after him. It was only later, when I was standing opposite him and I thought 'This guy's huge and he's got a metal bar' and then I was more concerned."Springer, a serial criminal, was jailed for 20 months.Yesterday at Oxford Crown Court, Tucker received a certificate for his courageous act, and a cheque for £250.

So says Chris Waddle and, at the moment, it’s hard to argue with him. That said, the indications of this malaise are twofold: dwindling crowds and the matches themselves. Frankly I think the latter is too dull to bother arguing about – though the Observer would likely disagree, having deemed it worthy of three full pages of coverage recently – so I shan’t.While expensive tickets, blanket television coverage and ridiculous kick off times might excite some, I, like Kate Moss, like an ample sprinkling of something extra to get me out of bed in the morning. In my case, its hypocrisy – and there’s a lot of it around in football at the moment.Many people believe that football has simply become dull. The Premiership is feted as, if not the best, then certainly the most exciting league in the world. However, it seems that the source of this discontent is not that the games themselves are less interesting – though this is arguably the case – but that the results have become too predictable. People aren’t really complaining about Chelsea and José Mourinho’s negative tactics, they’re complaining about Chelsea and José Mourinho being so much better than everyone else.I shan’t bore you with the raft of quotes which have emerged on the subject from gaming greats such as Alan Curbishley, Martin Jol and Steve Bruce (who, incidentally argued that Nicky Butt’s recent red card should have been rescinded on the grounds that fouls are ‘entertaining’), but in my mind they have done nothing more than show that the game is suffering more from a severe case of sour grapes than anything else. Arsene Wenger, who is forever hailing his team’s goal scoring prowess, is calling for rule changes to reward high scoring wins – however, it seem as though Mr Wenger has not done his maths. Even with such changes, Chelsea would still have run away with the league, beating Arsenal by 8 points rather 10. The only position change on the grounds of the proposed new point system would have been Tottenham switching places with Manchester City, neither of whom were relegated, or qualified for Europe. Ground breaking stuff.Even if this had more of an effect on the league table, it would only highlight Wenger’s true gripe. As he mentioned in the same interview: ‘if the same team or person always wins in sport, it quickly becomes boring.’ Translation: ‘Arsenal have stopped winning, I’m bored’ or, more specifically, ‘Arsenal have stopped winning, I’d rather not see ze incident’.It’s slightly worrying that John Terry seems to have a better grasp of the situation than most: ‘I do not think the top players in the world would have voted three Chelsea players in the FIFPro World XI if we were boring’. Remedial footballer that he is, he equated being good equates to being exciting – beautifully missing the point of Chelsea’s detractors that the two do not always come hand in hand.The complaint ostensibly is that if you’re the best and are going to keep winning, you could at least win in style. Then again, when Chelsea won a run of 4-0 wins last season it was apparently dull. They played 4-5-1 thoughout and no one complained – in fact, everyone else adopted the same formation. The only change was that where Chelsea had Duff, Robben, Cole and Lampard to liven up the midfield, while the majority had to make do with free transfers and loan deals. The only difference this season is that the Chelsea midfield is somewhat off their game. Hardly the club’s fault – and I doubt many people would see another cash splurge by Abramovich as a solution either.West Ham boss Alan Pardew went so far as to describe Jose Mourinho as the ‘Steve Davis of football’ – as harsh as comparisons get in the boring stakes. But the thing the two do have in common is that, like Mourinho, Steve Davis always won. The table itself reveals that Chelsea have scored 14 goals this season – four more than anyone else. The fact that they have only conceded one is less a criticism of Chelsea than it is of the rest of the league.However, there is another danger for Jose Mourinho to consider. Whether it is the neutral position or the natural arrogance of one who has won everything and done it with style – or maybe I’ve read more into it than I should – but Johann Cruyff seemed to have put his finger on the buzzer when he pointed out that ‘[Jose Mourinho]’s a very good practical coach. But in his position he should think about performances too’.The fact that ‘Paddy Power’ bookmakers have already paid out on a Chelsea title this season might be a comfort to Chelsea fans, but the man who really brought this success, Roman Abramovich, is probably beginning to think that football isn’t nearly as entertaining as it seemed two and half years ago. And if Chelsea’s golden goose stops laying eggs, it’s not just Chelsea fans who should be worried. Watch your back Mr Mourinho.ARCHIVE: 0th week MT 2005