Overheard at the Tower of London

161120072792, originally uploaded by Paul-in-London.

American Boy: Mum, what's torture
American Mother: That's when you hurt someone to get information from them
American Boy: Oh... Is it justified?
American Mother: Yes I think it is in some circumstances...

Hot News in London this week

South London Depress, originally uploaded by Ronald Hackston.

According to the South London Press, the ritual dog-burning in Streatham takes place every Tuesday. Sometimes they mix it up a little and put it in a car on fire...

London is changing indeed...

Took a quick look at St Pancras station which opens later this week as the new Eurostar terminal... Looks rather good but rather than show my photos I thought it would be much nicer to show the current ad campaign from France...

Scenes from Lewisham Friday evening

091120072732, originally uploaded by Paul-in-London.

London is home to much wild life... Pigeons, squirrels, foxes and shopping trolleys can all be seen on its streets... This one looks like it has come from a giant Tesco (it was that sort of neighbourhood)...

Theatre: Boeing Boeing

Tuesday evening I got the chance to finally catch Boeing Boeing which has been playing since the start of this year at the Comedy Theatre in West End. It was also a chance for Grant, a fellow Australian just off the boat, to also see his first West End show. I told him that if he got the tickets at the TKTS booth I would treat him to the London Gay Men's Chorus concert next month. This seemed like a fair swap and helps with my duty as a cult chorus member to keep up my ticket selling quota... I was also tempted to say "Mwah" at this point but I keep telling people that it will be a good show... Anything with Johnny Mercer and Donna Summer music in it can't be all bad.

Anyway I digress... As luck would have it, on Tuesday evening there were a few problems with the tube. So after a bit of an underground adventure, followed by a run through Leicester Square, we missed the opening of the show. By being a few minutes late we were prevented by the ushers from taking our seats until the suitable break. And boy did those ushers mean it. They wouldn't let you out of their sight even to go to the bathroom (I had to use the ladies).

Grant's first show was not off to a promising start. While waiting fifteen minutes to get into the theatre down the back corridor that I would later call the "walk of shame", I tried reassuring Grant that the first half of any play is just all exposition anyway. Well last year I spent most of my time sleeping through first acts of a show. I don't think he bought it...

After finally taking seats and settling down after the first scene, it was easy to see why this play has been bringing the punters in. Even with a new cast and Elena Roger off, it is rather silly and quite enjoyable if you like a bit of farce. I always love doors slamming, outrageous foreign accents, and bright coloured costumes so this was my cup of tea. I particularly liked the work of Tracy-Ann Oberman who as a German Lufthansa flight attendant managed to keep it real while being the source of some of the shows biggest laughs. There is not enough outrageous Germans slamming doors and grabbing their bosoms on the West End stage and so she goes some way to fill that gap.

Grant on the other hand was less amused by the farce and pondering more logical questions like, why would Kevin McNally have three girlfriends? The answer lies in the perils of seeing a play with its third cast change I suppose (although I hear the third was better than the second...). And looks aside, the show was still a great night out... Well put together, well written and acted... Even missing the opening scene...

To make up for missing those first fifteen minutes of the play, I did shout Grant dinner afterwards. Wanting to give him the proper gay London experience I took him to Balans Soho where he enjoyed the experience of surly waiters in dark corners with food that tastes real interesting. Well there weren't the laughs of early in the evening but the food was a bit like a joke...

Overheard in the gym sauna Tuesday...

Man #1: It's not very hot eh?
Man #2: Nah...
Man #1: I'm gonna take a shower...
Man #2: Yeah okay...

Scenes from the O2 in Greenwich Sunday

041120072709, originally uploaded by Paul-in-London.

Once ridiculed as an expensive and stupid white elephant, the Milennium Dome or rather the O2 as it is now called is very popular with people flocking from all over London to visit the chain restaurants and marvel at the chilly indoor breezes... Oh and there is the occasional concert there too...

Movies: Rendition

One of the most interesting things about my visit to Australia over the summer was how a man was locked up for the entire duration of my stay without charge in Brisbane while I was there. This sort of drama wasn't on my mind when I strongly suggested that Rendition would make an excellent Sunday evening film, rather it was the fact Jake Gyllenhaal was in it.

The premise of the film is that an Egyptian national (and scientist) living in America and married to Reese Witherspoon is suspected of aiding terrorists, so on a flight back to Chicago from Cape Town disappears and is whisked off to an unnamed North African country to get interrogated. The aim of this extraordinary rendition is to try and find out what he knows about a series of suicide bombings that have recently become more sophisticated. Meanwhile, the lead interrogator is trying to find out more information about a failed suicide bombing mission where he was the target.

But to the main story, once Meryl Streep (who plays the CIA person responsible for ordering the renditions) throws the Egyptian on a plane to North Africa, that should be the last anyone ever hears about the guy as he is deleted from the system and there is no record of him being on board... Except for the fact that Reese checks his credit card statement online and shows that he purchased duty free on the flight. If ever there was a compelling reason to buy that extra Mont Blanc pen from the in-flight duty free cart, it was there on screen tonight.

Once in North Africa, Jake Gyllenhaal's character enters the frame as the CIA agent who observes the interrogations. Occasionally he interrupts the water boarding or the shock treatment, but for most of the time he just watches and then goes to the bar afterwards and has a line of shots, or smoking something rather strong and herbal... He reminded me of the Lloyd Bridges character in Airplane! who kept saying "he picked the wrong week to give up drinking/smoking/sniffing glue".

With all this in mind, the film has not received great reviews, and the dialogue and performances at times is unintentionally amusing considering the subject matter. Still the shades of grey and the way the film is put together give quite a watchable look at the war on terror. Watching it with a lapsed human rights lawyer made for interesting post-film conversation, but in a way the most intriguing part of extraordinary rendition is that it happens, and that people don't really care... And I thought the film brought out that indifference quite well...

Scenes from Clapham Friday evening...

021120072699, originally uploaded by Paul-in-London.

After an evening of staring at the sky watching fireworks on Clapham Common, one couldn't help but keep looking up for the remainder of the evening noticing such strange things as oval shaped lights in gay bars...

Rehearsal: True Colours

Rehearsals for the next concert of the London Gay Men's Chorus on December 16 are well underway, but Tuesday evening I found myself rehearsing the song True Colours with the small group, that will be part of the show in the second act.

The first thing that struck me about the song was how much I didn't know it. Well I am not an expert on the Cindy Lauper canon, but I do know Time After Time much better.

Was it Show me a smile, you with the sad eyes don't you realise or was it You with the sad smile, show me your courage though I realise or was it You with the sad eyes, don't be unhappy can't remember when... I had no idea how two verses could sound so similar... But after a few lessons by rote I sort of got it... Lucky we have a few more rehearsals to go...

Hot news in London this week...

GOOD OLD EVENING STANDARD, originally uploaded by D I C K S D A I L Y.

Won't somebody please think of the children?

Oh and Flickr user Dicksdaily has some great photos of London and worth checking out...

Hot news this week in London...

News headlines, originally uploaded by BillT.

He probably just needs a holiday...

Music: Music in 12 Parts

I am not quite sure what I was thinking when back in February I booked tickets to see Music in 12 Parts. Maybe it was the opportunity to see Philip Glass. Maybe it was the opportunity to hear a lot of his music (well at least during his minimalist phase). Whatever the reason, I wasn't prepared for four hours of music plus an hour and a half of breaks when I arrived at the Barbican Sunday. The piece is all about recurring musical structures that grow and change. I was entering the world of musical minimalism and wondering if I would ever escape. It didn't help either that I was surrounded by people with thick rimmed glasses and black turtlenecks. Is this a minimalist thing I wondered? I was glad that I wore a black shirt so I didn't stand out too much...

As for the music, well listening to the minimalist music has a way of creeping up on you and becoming a bit hypnotic. By the first hour I was into it. Suddenly things like gestures by the ensemble members to the onstage mixer became the performance. I found myself counting bleeps and shrieks. I started watching the audience for movement. I started thinking about what I was going to do during the dinner break. Then all of a sudden the music changed. The Guardian described the change as a tidal wave at sea, but for me it was like "Jeeeezuz you scare the shit out of me"...

The performance was broken up into four parts and by the final part most of the audience was still there. It was a hardcore group of Glass devotees. It was late. We had been sitting in the Barbican for way longer than anyone ever should. But we were still there. And you had to kind of admire the ensemble for being there too. It was a marathon for everyone but the end probably justified the means. By the time the performance concluded standing ovations ensued. You probably don't get the chance to see something like Music In 12 Parts performed every day so it was worth the sacrifice...

Idle Chatter Sunday

Paul: I got this text at 2am from this guy who had just arrived at Fire. I'd said earlier I might be there...
Adam: What? Who goes out at 2am unless they are on drugs?
Paul: Well you know what's good about guys on drugs?
Adam: They're easy...
Paul: Eeeexactly...

Scenes from Lambeth North Saturday evening

201020072672, originally uploaded by Paul-in-London.

Tried looking for it but couldn't find it...

Theatre: South Pacific

Source:www.ukproductions.co.uk

Friday I found myself in Wimbledon catching a touring production of South Pacific. I saw it not just because I was asked nicely to, and not just because I had never seen a production of it before, and not just because I had never been to the New Wimbledon Theatre before. I also went and saw it because there were loads of tits on show and frankly when the south pacific is this bare-chested, who can resist? Oh and some of the sailors didn't have shirts on either.

While I have never seen a production of South Pacific before, I felt like I intimately knew it anyway. Growing up I heard it regularly as the cast album was a favourite of mum's. Watching the show was like going back to growing up back home in Oz... I can credit mum for introducing me to Funny Girl and South Pacific at an early age (she also is a fan of Evita but we don't talk about that). For some reason this fact is a tad amusing when I tell people this. But anyway, I suspect mum would have liked the show. Helena Blackman as Nellie even was wearing her hair*...

South Pacific is actually a damn fine musical really... It was a great cast and a fun night out at the theatre... If you can get past the audience humming along to the tunes half the the time (sorry to those around me)...

*That is not Nellie in the poster btw...