Posts

Featured Post

Bear with me: Sun Bear @ParkTheatre

Image
If The Light House is an uplifting tale of survival, Sarah Richardson’s Sun Bear gives a contrasting take on this. Sarah plays Katy. We’re introduced to Katy as she runs through a list of pet office peeves with her endlessly perky coworkers, particularly about coworkers stealing her pens. It’s a hilarious opening monologue that would have you wishing you had her as a coworker to help relieve you from the boredom of petty office politics.  But something is not quite right in the perfect petty office, where people work together well. And that is her. And despite her protesting that she is fine, the pet peeves and the outbursts are becoming more frequent. As the piece progresses, maybe the problem lies in a past relationship, where Katy had to be home by a particular hour, not stay out late with office colleagues and not be drunk enough not to answer his calls. Perhaps the perky office colleagues are trying to help, and perhaps Katy is trying to reach out for help. It has simple staging
Bad news... Hearing about the death of a friend today has put blogging a little on hold... But coming home on the tube tonight I did listen to a song by William Finn which contains some great lyrics: I believe, And I have found, Hyperbole, is not what makes the world go round, Just living, just navigating firm and level ground, Has power to astound, I have found. It's been said, And I have heard, That quiet, doesn't have to be a dirty word, Just talking,is often more expressive than a shriek, Its nice to merely speak, I have found. Look around Contentment it seems, Simply happens It appears Accompanied by no grovels And no tears from "I have found" - William Finn And so life goes on...
Image
Scenes from outside Angers Sunday afternoon: Complete with National Front posters urging a no vote in the upcoming referendum on the EU constitution... 

untitled

Paul's Travelling Tips Miscellany More on my weekend later but first my observations travelling 300kph out of Paris: A trip to Paris, then on to Angers need not be tiring... Just travel first class. My return leg was in a solo seat so I did not have to play footsie with anybody... The seats are bigger and the cars are quieter... And in general the cars have much better looking people in them... Although the only attractive people in my car tonight are the women... You also get nicer messages on the PA system, and the crew are much more polite. Unless of course you are Grace Jones trying to get a free upgrade, or the Asian woman at Gare Du Nord who showed her ticket to the smart French gent after me and got: "YOU ARE CAR THREE THIS IS CAR TWELVE! MOVE ALONG!" I am typing this while having a nice glass of champagne. There is a bottle of Bordeaux waiting after that as well... The 3pm train out of Waterloo is a good one to catch if you wish to pick up a Gaelic Businessman ret

untitled

Travelling Travelling on the Eurostar speeding through the French countryside, one notices how much smarter it is to travel in first class. However one can sympathise with Grace Jones as the leg room is still a bit minimal. Have been playing footsies with the French businessman sitting opposite me for most of the journey. Oh and there is an over representation of laptops in the car I am travelling in - hence getting out the iPAQ to be a poser as well...
Image
Scenes from the Barbican Thursday 22:03. Intermission 
Theatre: Alas thou has misconstrued everything... Julius Caesar Julius Caesar last night at the Barbican was a marathon effort. First half ran for two hours, then half an hour intermission, followed by another hour. F thought there were a few places they could have cut, but with things falling onto stage, loud explosions, huge crowd scenes, and an updating of the production to a Bush-like era, there was plenty to take in. Sitting in second row, Ralph Feinnes as Marc Antony was particularly engaging. Of course he could read the back of a cereal packet and have had the audience hanging on to every word. But the rest of the cast was just as good. Being a preview there were a few little odd bits, such as a very bright torch falling on stage and pointing out to the audience. The effect was that half the audience in the stalls had to squint for five minutes until an actor picked it up. Given the star power of the cast, it seems like it will be a popular blockbuster production. Whether ever
Image
Scenes from Charing Cross Road 20:24 - Outside Foyles bookstore 
News: Freud's latest Lucian Freud new self-portrait goes on show at the National Portrait Gallery. The speculation over who the young naked woman clinging to the 82 year old painter is commences... Nothing like a bit of mystery in the art world, particularly involving a superstar artist... Alas the gallery was not open when I walked by it tonight... Some other time News: Sock it to him Cherie Blair last night tells the East End constituency of New Labour MP Oona King to give George Galloway a bloodied nose at the ballot box. George Galloway used to be a Scottish Labour MP who was famous for visiting and brown nosing Saddam in Iraq. Now with his own loony left / broad coalition of anyone against the war party, he is hoping to capture the Muslim vote in the east end. The papers tried to pin many things on Galloway but he won libel suits against them, but there is something unpleasant about this beady-eyed bald Scotsman. Still that has never stopped anyone from getting elected... N
Image
Scenes from Tottenham Court Road 21:26 
Image
Scenes from the Central Line Monday 21:24 - Between Holburn and Tottenham Court Road 
News: Is this the way to Amarillo Tony Christie's ditty has been four weeks at No 1 . It is a catchy tune, and has a very tacky video clip which may explain the enduring appeal. Even guys working out at the gym will stop to look at the TV screens when it starts playing... Hmmm...
New Look... new products Today was told my skin looked fabulous. I explained could have been the result of: Several litres of water (with gas) I have consumed in the past 24 hours Some anti-aging face mask I had a sample of and applied overnight Sauna at the gym at Bayswater from Sunday Bronzing anti-shine face powder (just the thing for polluted London streets) All of the above Much later, after a 20 minute jog at the gym, one did not look as great. Yet to master the look cool in the gym. Just look sweaty instead.
Image
Scenes from Bayswater tube Sunday 18:41.  
Image
Scenes from Goodge St Tube Saturday 22:22 
News: Misc 'Rubbish' art offered to visitors at the Serpentine today as Takahashi's installation is offered to the public ... Wearing an Abercrombie & Fitch t-shirt ordered online this week which has on it "Here's to being single". A&F are quite popular here amongst the gay punters with their modern takes on classic clean cut items. Late last year they settled a class action discrimination case which accused the company of being a little too clean cut and a little too all-white. Of course none of this stops the punters buying the goods...
Overheard on the Tube tonight: Chav #1: I am not doin' any more girls until school finishes... Chav #2: Yeah? Chav #1: But Jo came yesterday at 5 and I gave her a good shaggin'... She won't forget that... Overheard at the London Lesbian and Gay Film Fest tonight: Leather Man #1: You know Peter, the young boy that hangs around us sometimes? Leather Man #2: Oh yes I know the one Leather Man #1: Well he sent me a text around lunchtime which said, "Get yourself to a TV, she looks faaabulous in oyster silk and chiffon!"
Image
Scenes from outside National Film Theatre (under Waterloo Bridge) 15:30 - crowded both inside and out with punters seeing the London Lesbian & Gay Film Fest  
Theatre: Too much of everything for a chilly night in London... Saw The Far Pavilions tonight. It is a new musical based on the novel by M.M. Kaye, and was previously a BBC mini-series. Obviously musical was the next logical step. Hmmm... Unfortunately epic stories don't usually make for great musicals. For every Les Miserables there is Gone with the Wind or Shogun . This show seems to fall into the latter category. Set in India it is a convoluted tale about love, the Raj and lots of other things. Being an epic melodrama, the story did get in the way of everything. It also didn't help that the music is not very good (a problem since it is mostly through-sung), the cast had difficulty with the music, and the stage kept spinning around. The spinning stage was a curious staging choice that had the effect of making most people in the front rows a little giddy from its overuse. On the plus side however I thought the staging and some of the songs were quite good. And given that Bo
Music: All Beethoven and no bite Caught the LSO Beethoven Concert tonight . It was a sensational programme of the Coriolan Overture, Symphony No 6 (‘Pastoral’), and then Symphony No 7. All are very listenable and perfect for unwinding at the end of the day, and the sound that conductor Sir John Eliot Gardiner got from the orchestra was exquisite. Hearing the orchestra at times barely above pianissamo was something else. Quite appropriate to play the Pastoral symphony today as storms break out over Britain, and temperatures are expected to dive below freezing tonight. Also, during interval I did notice how cruisy the foyers were... I didn't get approached but I did some heavy duty checking out - complete double takes, distracting people from their conversation and the like (and no I didn't have something on my tie - I did check). It was great for the ego. I could feel it inflate as I drank my Becks. Alas there was no follow up as the bells went to go back in to the co
Image
Scenes from Liverpool St Station 18:48 - Rush hour... 
News: Its all over for Rover (well it will be) Big news tonight is that the Government announces that receivers are called in by MG Rover , and the company disputes this. The announcement came after the Chinese back out of a deal to take over the company. Production stopped today in the West Midlands plant and the future of the company doesn't look bright. Apart from making rubbish cars that fill up London streets by people with no taste, it appears the company hasn't really made it ever since BMW walked away from it five years ago... Unfortunately 20,000 jobs are likely to disappear in a matter of days...
News: Strange, I've seen that upgrade before... Grace Jones gets thrown off the Eurostar in Kent for being a bitch, which is why people love her anyway (although not Eurostar staff now I suspect). Actually when I saw her on the front page of tonight's Evening Standard I thought "oh no, she's dead!". But no, she was just causing a ruckus after sitting in Premium Class when she only had a First Class ticket, and then beating up some poor unsuspecting Eurostar inspector. Maybe it was the warm leatherette that appealed to her so much she didn't want to move. I am traveling first class next weekend to Angers, but I don't think I will be a slave to the Premium class, I will sit where my seat allocation tells me to...
Drinks, what drinks? Have managed to go to the gym four days in a row. Doing different parts of the body of course, but this sudden burst of physical activity was more by accident than design. For the last two nights people have cancelled drinks on me. Having a hunch that this was possible as both nights the drinks would have been with ambivalent types, I took my gym bag as plan B. So while I haven't been social, I have been getting fitter. I pointed out to my single colleagues at work that this is important in the post breakup period as by the time one has got one's shit together, one will look a bitofallright. Because let's face it, when you are in a relationship... Things can get let go... Even when they shouldn't. Overheard at the gym tonight: Nothing... All was quiet (during the times I wasn't plugged into the iPOD listening to Kylie's latest single Giving You Up - her 29th top 10 UK single - downloaded from iTunes) But overheard on Tottenham Court Road: G
News: No more Jinxes The Sun did its bit to help the royal marriage get over the recent series of mishaps by sending a Druid to Windsor Castle to bless some lookalike couples and waving a "curse-be-gone" stick. That'll do it... The Druid appears to have a fake Santa Claus beard and is wearing an outfit with the logo of the paper in clear view...
Overheard in gym tonight: Muscle Mary (on mobile): I don't mind going to a straight bar, I am sick of the gay onesssssssssssss.
News: a most predictable week Pope dies and is buried Friday. On Monday morning there was much alarm at the thought that flags on buildings would be flying at half mast on the day the heir to the throne would be married. The fact that they are flying at half mast on various buildings is something to pause about in Protestant Britain. But the problem disappeared once the decision to change the wedding to Saturday so the Prince could attend the funeral. How in 500 years things change. The Guardian is calling it the slow death of Protestant England . Protestants can take heart that at least the future King is marrying a divorcee, and if the Daily Mirror is to be believed, he was furious that he had to change the date to Saturday . The front page had the classic headline: NO WEDDING AND A FUNERAL. Oh and given the wedding is now on Saturday, it will clash with the Grand National, and so after some horse trading, the race will be delayed by 25 minutes to enable the BBC to cover both ...
Latest weather reports... Managed to find my stash of Australian Kangaroo Pins given to me before I left by a friend in Oz. The idea being to wear them while you are out and about and if you hit it off with somebody who is abitofallright then you give them the pin. Well hey, you gotta have a gimmick... Will try it out over the next few days...
News: There goes the tea towells It was announced late this morning that the Pope's funeral was to be Friday, then an hour later Clarence House announced Charles and Camilla would now get married on Saturday. In the meantime, punters raced out to buy all the tat they could grab with the wrong date on it . I guess the thought is that one day it would be valuable, but cheap printed tea towells are hardly going to a collectors item.
Image
Scenes from Trafalgar Square 19:00. Chewing gum and pigeon bits 
Image
Scenes from Covent Garden 18:16. There was an unusually large number of people watching this act. This appeared due to the fact the performer wearing a thong and with a large bulge down his front. Here he was mounting an unsuspecting man from the audience... Not much was left to the immagination here...and the punters couldn't get enough of it... Saucy bunch of tourists... 
Image
Scenes from Bloomsbury Sunday 14:19. Spring is in the air. Leaves are starting to reappear, and the joggers now wear short shorts rather than track pants... 
Image
Scenes from Milton Keynes 6:50pm. I went to Milton Keynes tonight to see the UK tour version of Thoroughly Modern Millie , which was great. The show didn't last long enough in London for me to get around to seeing it last year, and I always have wondered what Milton Keynes was like. Now that I have seen it, I don't have to ever die wondering what this place is like. It has a well-deserved crap town status .  
Art isn't easy: Caravaggio I had pre-booked tickets to see at the National Gallery Caravaggio: The Final Years , which everyone has been raving about, and it was worth it. Some amazing pieces of the artists work made in his final years together in the same location was quite impressive. Those that recommended the exhibition to me I suspect were devotees of the Derek Jarman film from the eighties which certainly focused on the homoerotic nature of his works (and the artists impulses in that direction)... The exhibition suggests his life was a little more complex than a raving queen who got into fights and killed a man, but it all made for interesting context when looking at the art. Actually amongst the hoards of people at the exhibition there were quite a few friends of Dorothy lurking amongst the darkened rooms and I thought it was if the curators were trying to add some of the seediness of the life the artist led to the exhibition. In fact the darkness was to bring out the artwo
Weather resolution Guy-who-took-room-after-me ends up suggesting on Friday night we go for a drink, which after leaving work at 8pm I figure what the hell, I'll skip gym for that. However: He has another commitment so drinks will commence at 10.30pm, which is hardly enough time before closing to make it worth the effort, but I figure I am only a 20 minute walk to soho so I should be arsed to do that. I spend the hour and a bit between getting home and going out again discussing the imminent Papal death with lapsed Catholics back in Australia. After quick drink in soho Guy-who-took-room-after-me suggests we head to G-A-Y at the Astoria . He bought with him fliers to get cheap (and quick) entry which I thought was pretty organised. The only thing to wait for was the security check. Security guard frisks me and queries the five pound note I have scrunched up in my jeans pocket. I say to him, "its money" and I guess that dumb response suggested I was not some coke ad
Image
Scenes from Stockwell Tube, Friday 9.16am: Waiting for the service to resume after it was suspended... 
Weather Changes 3 At the gym tonight I get a text message from guy-who-took-room-after-me who suggests we should catch up again for a drink. Naturally I text everyone who I had mentioned this unfolding little story, but neglect to text guy-who-took-room-after-me back. Seek to resolve this by phoning but get voicemail instead. Let the phone tag commence... Overhead at gym tonight Muscle Mary 1: I was married once. Two years. No kids thankfully. Muscle Mary 2: I have always wondered what it would be like to do... You know... A woman...
News: Bloody, bloody people The heir to the throne was caught on microphone saying how awful the bloody (royal) press are ... Well what do you expect from the journalists where a scoop constitutes who Prince William has been taking to the slopes ?? And over 9 million people tuned in to see it, but Christopher Eccleston won't return for a second series of Dr Who . After finally watching it the other night, it was actually pretty darn good. London looked great in the first episode of the new series where mannequins and wheelie bins wreck havoc over the city.
Image
A room with a view 22.26: BT tower surrounded by mist...  
Image
Scenes from Tottenham Court Road 22.19: Light from below...  
News: Tubes, dinners and film Hundreds stranded in Tube tunnel this evening... On the Jubilee line near Swiss Cottage... Well I don't live in NW3 anymore... Jamie Oliver manages to change government policy and get a huge government commitment to improve school dinners and tackle child obesity. It shows that in the run-up to the election (and after a very successful doco on C4) miracles can happen. Actually have managed to avoid covering politics for a while, but some smashing political stuff is covered at the Recess Monkey blog... And the 19th London Lesbian and Gay Film Fest opened this evening and dammit I haven't booked anything yet!
Weather Changes Continue Still foggy and misty. However just after 8am I got a text from the former flatmate saying he was glad that we caught up and guy-who-took-room-after-me was after my number and would I mind sharing it. At this point I realised it was the standard two days before somebody makes enquiries about getting numbers. Earlier than two days is not the done thing (you don't want to look desperate), but I was surprised getting it so early while I was in an 8am meeting... When I finally got out of the meeting I spent about half an hour crafting a response, as I figured this was a message that was going to be read fairly widely. My former flatmates are such awful gossips. Bless their hearts. Overheard in gym tonight Muscle Mary #1: Now that he's gone I don't want to have anything to do with him anymore. Muscle Mary #2: Yeah the break-up can be tough... Muscle Mary #1: Of course, if he pays to fly me to New York, I'll be there! After 9pm at the gym, everyone
Weather changes Weather today was misty, wet and cold. What happened to Spring? Given the lousy weather I decided to skip gym and come home early. It was not related to: Catching up with old flatmates from Haringey and having three or four (or possibly five) Becks over the course of the afternoon Flatmates wanted all the gory details of the breakup but I just said there weren't any. "When somebody just can't stand the sight of you anymore you know it isn't all about you... So just move on" I told them. Have made mental note to include that line in any future book on postmodern advice that I may write... Staying out extra longer with the guy who took the room after me. Wasn't quick enough to make silly jokes about "sharing the same bed"... This was probably not a bad thing Heading out again around 11pm to catch up with a nice Jewish boy from California in Central London. This time it was vodka. It was all very responsible (and quite enjoyable at the t
Image
Scenes from Tottenham Court Road: Old bomb shelter in background... Old VW golf in front... 
Movie: The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou Finally caught The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou tonight. Its a great film but it is nearing its main run in London cinemas so I saw it in the bowels of a cinema on Leicester Square. This was rather unfortunate as given its depth underground, the red lights that were throughout the cinema and the smell of bleach that permeated the air, you could have been forgiven for thinking that it was an "adult" cinema... But this was Leicester Square not Piccadilly Circus circa 1970 so it was very legitimate commercial fare, although the film itself was a relief to be a little different from your standard issue three-act movie comedy/drama...
Image
Scenes from Embankment Tube 22.58. A quiet night underground... 
Technology and the thoroughly modern lifestyle Today it occurred to me that between my flatmate and I we have 3 televisions 3 VCRS 3 dvd players / burners 2 computers 3 digital cameras Its a lot of junk to have... Not to mention the PDA and the iPOD. All this technology reminded me of being in Fopp yesterday (which is a great music, dvd, books and record store) and heard a new track from Daft Punk's latest album - Human After All "technologic": Buy it, use it, break it, fix it, trash it, change it, melt - upgrade it, charge it, pawn it, zoom it, press it, snap it, work it, quick - erase it, write it, get it, paste it, save it, load it, check it, quick - rewrite it, plug it, play it, burn it, rip it, drag and drop it, zip - unzip it, lock it, fill it, curl it, find it, view it, curl it, jam - unlock it, surf it, scroll it, pose it, click it, cross it, crack it, twitch - update it, name it, read it, tune it, print it, scan it,
TV: The return of Dr Who Last night while I was off at the National, I did set the VCR to record the return of Dr Who. Naturally fans gathered to mark Doctor Who comeback . Although not a fan, any show that features a man-eating wheelie bin can't be all that bad...
Image
Scenes from Tottenham Court Road Saturday 3pm. Scientologists and Protesters collide outside their main shop (for non celebrities) in London. And I have to walk past this every day... A few police were on hand to make sure it was all kept civil...  
Theatre: His Dark Materials Part II Snapped up a front row seat to see His Dark Materials Part II at the Olivier theatre. Based on the stories of Phillip Pullman, they have turned it into two three hour plays that cover epic journeys, religion, morality, good and evil and so on and so on... I figured Part I may have covered a lot of exposition in its three hour length, and so the three hours of Part II may have been more about the action. It actually doesn't work out like that ( given both parts have different stories to tell ) but anyway. Sitting in front row meant that as the stage rose and sunk and moved around you did tend to miss out on the action, but you also got the sense at times you were part of the action. It was quite a spectacle and something that really used all the tricks of the Olivier Theatre. Even more of a spectacle were some of the actors and puppeteers, (although that has less to do with the overall appeal of the show and more about my personal taste)... It wa
Image
Scenes from Skanky London: Centre Point plaza at Tottenham Court Road Saturday afternoon...