Posts

Featured Post

The agony and the misogyny: Banging Denmark @finborough

Image
Banging Denmark, the comic play by Van Badham, answers the question, what lengths does a misogynistic pickup artist go to date with a frosty Danish librarian? It may be an uneasy farce given the subject matter, but it is made more palatable by the cast assembled to convince you of it. It's currently having its European premiere at the Finborough Theatre .  It opens with Guy DeWitt (Tom Kay) at one end of the stage. His real name is Jake, and he's a part-time podcaster whose expertise is misogyny and playing the role of the pickup artist. That is, someone who attempts to coax women into having sex with a mix of flattery or manipulation. His podcast attracts a variety of involuntarily celibate men (or incels), so call in asking for advice. And while he gives the impression of living the high life, he is in a grimy flat strewn with empty pizza boxes.  At the other end of the stage is feminist academic Ishtar (Rebecca Blackstone). She lives out of the photocopy room, losing all her
Read more...

Movies: 2 Days in Paris

2 days in Paris was pretty good. Written directed and starring Julie Delpy it was a bit like a French Annie Hall. It may not be such a great movie to see if you are single, with all this angst on screen about being in a relationship and being alone. Catching it with Mandy (who is single too) she didn't have as much a problem with that but rather that the characters didn't stop talking. Well they were New Yorkers. I just found it great therapy. It showed that there is hope for all eccentrics out there to find somebody just as weird. The funniest scene involved no dialogue on the metro as they were getting spooked by a crazy guy with no sense of personal space. Oh the memories of Paris that came flooding back (even if when I was there I knew the crazy guy). Shot on the streets of Paris I have made a mental note to get back there once the new Eurostar link opens in November. Sure Waterloo looks great in The Bourne Ultimatum but the Eurostar from St Pancras looks even better ...
Read more...

Scenes from Soho Wednesday

Image
Scenes from Soho Wednesday , originally uploaded by Paul-in-London . It seemed fitting on the day it was announced that dining in London is more expensive than anywhere else in the world ... To eat out... Well, it was Busabai in Soho. Rather than do what another boy from Brisbane (well he is from Logan which is just outside of Brisbane and like Peckham but less pretty) did and get arrested on suspicion of racial abuse of the staff, we just started taking photos of the other diners who were well fit...
Read more...

Dance: Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre

Image
Source: http://www.alvinailey.org In a week with a head cold from hell (which meant no gym, a lot of rest, and no socialising), it was somewhat of a relief to get out and see Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre at Sadlers Wells on Saturday night. Arriving at the theatre with the above artwork plastered all over the theatre (and most of Islington), I expected little was spent on the costume budget. But in a programme set to legendary jazz music, it turned out to not be the case. This was a bit of a relief as after a week of coughing and spluttering who needs to have somebody else's physical fitness rubbed in your face? After the first interval I caught up with Fliss who was there with her posse. Fliss signed up to see the show on the strength of a viral video that was doing the rounds in the past month. I was there just for the artistic enrichment (plus I got a great seat at good price). Well that's my story and I'm sticking to it. Anyway I joined them the first interval o
Read more...

Benefits of a tube strike

Image
, originally uploaded by Orhan* . 1. You can walk home while the weather is still good 2. Save money on travel fares 3. Excuse to get home early and watch the sultry Nigella flog Waitrose products on the BBC
Read more...

News: Nobody's going anywhere

Image
Nobody's going anywhere , originally uploaded by thegareth . Unless you can take shanks's pony, the next few days are going to be a bit of a nightmare ... Until today I had no idea what shanks's pony was... I had to look it up... So there's a word for the day ...
Read more...

Overheard from a family on cycles in the park...

Your seat looks really comfortable I don't know why you wanted to start the day cycling at 5pm I wanted to go out much earlier but everything's closed Aw come on mum...
Read more...

Scenes from Kensington Palace Gates Saturday 18:42

Image
010920072370 , originally uploaded by Paul-in-London . That's the trouble with being the people's princess... The people can be a bit cheap and tacky with their memorials made out of cereal boxes, old newspapers and ball-point pens... Ten years after dying in some car tunnel thanks to a pissed Frenchman, the display at Kensington Palace must be the most hilarious thing in town at the moment... Cheap, tacky and nasty... And that's just the women (of a certain age) there pushing and shoving you if you take too long to read the messages (or photograph them)... All that was missing was "Die Camilla die"! Don't miss it... Those ASDA flowers won't last the weekend...
Read more...