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Belters and bohemians: Opera Locos @Sadlers_wells

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At the start of the Opera Locos performance, the announcement says that they really are singing. You could be forgiven for wondering that, given the amplification turns up the backing track and the voices so loud that you can't always tell what's real. But this is a mostly harmless and slightly eccentric blend of opera classics fused with the occasional pop classic. However, recognising the pop tunes would help if you were over a certain age. The most recent of them dates back twenty years. It's currently playing at the Peacock Theatre .  Five performers play out a variety of archetype opera characters. There's the worn-out tenor (Jesús Álvarez), the macho baritone (Enrique Sánchez-Ramos), the eccentric counter-tenor (Michaël Kone), the dreamy soprano (María Rey-Joly) and the wild mezzo-soprano (Mayca Teba). Since my singing days, I haven't recognised these types of performers. However, once, I recall a conductor saying he wanted no mezzo-sopranos singing with the s

News: Climate protest goes mainstream

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P1010231 Originally uploaded by pink_ego_b0x . Trafalgar Square today was packed with people all waving placards and flags urging for a global treaty to cap global warming. It wasn't just the usual suspects of young impressionable revolutionaries but hoards of what the media are calling a 'mainstream protest' . One wonders if these are the same mainstream people who are enjoying the bonfires and fireworks all this weekend to coincide with Guy Fawkes Day... Best placard was the one lampooning George Bush (does anybody in London respect that man?). Although it was a little startling to be walking around a find George Bush's head bobbing along right beside you (as above)... Like YIKES!

Overheard at the gym Friday

Brazilian: Do you take Viagra? Man: No... Brazilian: How do you expect to keep a boyfriend if you don't take Viagra? Man: Oh...

Film: Marie Antoinette

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Sunday night I caught Marie Antoinette . I would warn people not to watch this film on an empty stomach as there are an astonishing array of desserts in this film. After ninety minutes I kept looking at my watch as I really fancied a tart or something with cream and berries. Unfortunately the film had another half hour or so to go so it was a bit of a long wait. And all I could get at the end of the film was a Magnum . Kirsten Dunst is great in any film she is in, although here she just had to play herself. Style triumphs over substance here but everything is so gorgeous (including the tarts) and was similar in tone to director Sofia Coppola's other films that it was watchable enough...

Quiet Saturday Lunch in SW2

Scenes from a SW2 Bar Friday 21:12

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Scenes from a SW2 Bar Friday 21:12 Originally uploaded by Pauly_ . After a jug of cosmopolitans, I started photographing anything around me... Last time I was at this bar (just a few days earlier) there was this fifty-something woman making out with a twenty-something man on the very same seat that these ladies were sitting on. It was so bizarre. Anyway, the ladies didn't mind the attention. Oh and that is a projection screen behind them...

Scenes from Jubilee Bridge Thursday 22:18

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Scenes from Jubilee Bridge Thursday 22:18 Originally uploaded by Pauly_ . Conversation taking this photo went something like this: Paul : I'm not sure about using the flash on this camera as I will look really white... F : But you ARE white... Paul : Oh yeah...

Theatre: Caroline Or Change

I received a bit of flack this week from an anonymous poster connected somehow to the West End production of Cabaret saying I was such a bitch for what I wrote about Cabaret and that I should stick to watching Daddy Cool or some other jukebox musical as that would be all my intelligence could cope with. Those creative types can get so touchy... Anyway, I had already bought tickets to see Caroline Or Change for Thursday evening so I couldn't take them up on their suggestion. I had been looking forward to this for some time. Listening to the Broadway Cast Recording over the past couple of years it has grown on me to be one of my favourite musicals of recent years. With a book and lyrics by Tony Kushner (who also wrote Angels in America) and music by Jeanine Tesori (who wrote the musicals "Violet" and "Twelfth Night" and the new music for "Thoroughly Modern Millie" when it was adapted for stage) it received raves when it opened and the UK production ha

Scenes from the Northern Line Southbound Monday 22:45

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Scenes from the Northern Line Southbound Monday 22:45 Originally uploaded by Pauly_ . Freebasing on the Northern Line...

Scenes from Tooting Sunday 21:33

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Scenes from Tooting Sunday 21:33 Originally uploaded by Pauly_ . Heading home from a curry in Tooting, one couldn't help but notice the window displays. I suggested to An that I could wear that hat at his impending birthday party... Well, the invite said dress "celebratory"...

Sunday phone conversation

Paul : Just what do you say to someone with a Prince Albert? Ad : How about, "Would you take that out for me please?" Paul : Yes it's good to remove the earrings before dinner...