Paul in London

Man #1: I haven't seen you in ages! What've you been up to? Man #2: Well this morning I cycled with my boyfriend to Borough Market...

Woman (grabbing Paul's arm): Hello haven't I met you before? Paul: No I don't think so but are you having a good night? Woman: I sure am. I'm Elaine. Paul: Hi Elaine I'm Paul. And what are you up to? Woman: Well I'm like going to Brodies now... Paul: Oh Brodies that's where I'm about to head... Woman: Great I'll look out for you... And yes... Paul was lying...

It had been over a week since I had been to the theatre so a trip with the West End Whingers to see Speed The Plow at the Old Vic on Tuesday evening seemed like a jolly good idea. Even better due to the fact it starred Kevin Spacey, Jeff Goldblum and Laura Michelle Kelly (who is currently gracing our screens as the warty mad woman in Sweeney Todd ). Mind you when I told a friend that I saw Kevin Spacey at the Old Vic I was informed that he is in every friggin' thing at the Old Vic regardless of how miscast he has been. Well everyone's a critic I suppose. Still there was lots to enjoy about David Mamet's play about Hollywood execs debating the merits of artistic and commercial success. And in between it all is an ambiguous secretary upsetting the manliness of it all. I say ambiguous because depending on whether you could ignore or put up with the secretary probably depends on how much you enjoy this play. Spacey and Goldblum are excellent but when it came to discussing th...

030220083890 , originally uploaded by Paul-in-London . Who's the guy with the hairy plant?

Paul: I have got a big chicken tonight... Adam: Yeah he is the one doing the hoovering...

"Britain imports athletes for 2012" - Evening Standard, 25 Jan 2008 , originally uploaded by chrisjohnbeckett . Well they import everything else...

You know you can't hide your roots... I always like to say that for some reason... But Saturday evening arriving at the Landor pub er Theatre to see Assassins I felt thoroughly un-Australian. There I was dressed for a night at the theatre (albeit fringe theatre in the same street as a raid on two crack dens the night before) to be surrounded at the bar by many, many pissed Australians in thongs (the flip-flop kind), singlets and shorts as if it really was January in oz. It was no surprise that amongst all this malarkey the Fosters was flowing rather smoothly. I took solace with the fact that I was at least wearing Aussiebums even if nobody else knew that. Well that was sort of disclosed later in the evening after inviting the West End Whingers and their friends back to my flat and forgetting that I had not yet put away all the washing... But anyway, after getting past the rowdy mob downstairs I settled in to watch the show armed with a G&T. Assassins is Sondheim's take ...

RUDE , originally uploaded by the_moog . Not all bloggers in South West London are frightfully witty. Some are a few sandwiches short of a picnic. Perhaps even... pissweak? Never has such a piddling topic been elevated to such grand heights...

Old woman: It's not right... Young woman: No it's not right... Old woman: I said to her. No... It's just not right....

Sweeney Todd , originally uploaded by fairytalecinema . Rather than wait until next Friday for it to come out, I went with Fraser and Mark to see Sweeney Todd Sunday evening in preview. Neither of them knew what to expect but felt somewhat reassured by the large number of gay men in the audience (or perhaps they were just cruising I couldn't tell once the lights went down). Sweeney Todd is a great musical. It is so well written and a great mix of comedy and horror. I have seen it at least twice including the recent John Doyle production (which seemed to somewhat influence the above poster artwork). None of the productions I have seen however were gory enough for my taste. So I was somewhat relived to be thoroughly disturbed by the blood and gore in this show. In fact, I can't remember ever seeing such a movie when you were rooting for a serial killer to stick it to the victim one more time... Blood flies, bodies crunch, it is disgusting, but in the context it all feels so sa...