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The agony and the misogyny: Banging Denmark @finborough

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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

News: The weather

As the Guardian blogged , there is nothing like a cold snap to bring out the cliches... News stories this past week will feature at least one of the following: Talking about the winter spirit that evokes memories of the blitz . Since when is Jack Frost a Nazi? There really is community spirit after all... Although this only occurs after people realise the government is not going to do something for them first... Fear of running out of grit. Birmingham will run out in 48 hours . Death will ensue after. Take matters into your own hands and clear a pavement. And then you will be sued . Oh and BBC weather reporters must have a dress code for crumpled or ill-fitting suits... Won't somebody think of the dry cleaners?

Weather: Snow Night

The first few flakes of snow began falling around 21:00 in South West London this evening in what promises to be a chilly, snowy and icy week ... How heavy it will get is anyone's guess... At the moment the flakes are providing a light dusting of the road and cars parked outside. With many people expecting the snowfall to arrive earlier and therefore heading home and staying in, it would have been a good night to head out to popular show or restaurant... The only place that still was popular was my gym alas... Well I suppose those New Year resolutions are going to be awfully fresh and raw... There is something about the snow here that just makes people want to grab their iphone and take really crap pictures of snow falling and twitter about it. Myself included. The Guardian is providing an outlet for all this technological creativity through the UK snow map , which could be a useful tool in understanding weather patterns, or just a bit of fun...

Movies: Nine

Back in London, a good cure for jet-lag is a movie... Although watching the movie musical Nine was probably not the best option... Only curiosity to see if it would get any worse kept me awake. The fatal flaw of this movie is to cast Daniel Day Lewis - a creepy actor at the best of times (as the above interview junket for the film shows) - in a role that required the audience to have some element of sympathy for him. It also doesn't help that in between the musical numbers there is some absolutely dire dialogue mostly set in hotel rooms spoken by actors with outraaaaeegeeshly leeedicrious accents. Best (or should that be worst) is Nicole Kidman's which varies from eeetaylian to okker Aussie mid sentence. It was hilarious even if her screen time was brief. There are some nice numbers sung by women in various types of pantyhose but after the best number in the movie - A Call From the Vatican - you feel like you could be Penelope Cruz's gynaecologist. Director Rob Marshall ma

Overheard at the gym...

White Man #1: Sorry I didn't see you there in the dark Black Man #2: Hey, I didn't see you in the light...

Scenes from A Church Yard London

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IMG_0020_2 , originally uploaded by Paul-in-London . Posted on a wall that borders a church... Interesting thoughts for the new year...

Going down under...

On holidays in Australia for the next few weeks so will be making a few observations from here ...

Scenes from Knightsbridge Saturday

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IMG_0025 , originally uploaded by Paul-in-London . The evening everyone decided to go shopping... While it was raining... And while there were several tube lines down...

Scenes from Fortnum & Mason

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Suspect Christmas windows... Posted via email from paulinlondon's posterous