Wednesday 12 December 2007

Ankh-Morpork! Ankh-Morpork! So Good They Named it Ankh-Morpork

This news makes me very sad. It seems particularly cruel for a writer, a man so known and loved for his mind, to be diagnosed with Alzheimers.

I'd always kind of visualised him marching on through time, rolled up in an ever-growing cloud of Headology experience with all sorts of odd facts and observations getting trapped and absorbed, and it's desperately sad that, high-end experts in brain chemistry notwithstanding, that suddenly seems a lot less likely.

When I was fifteen, I wrote my GCSE English Literature coursework(1) comparing the first three Discworld novels with the first three of Robert Asprin's Myth novels - back when Pratchett was more firmly relegated to the corner marked 'fantasy genre' (and, in fairness, back when his books were closer to straight genre-satire than they have been for a long while). Sorry, Mr Asprin, I stand by my conclusion at the time - Terry kind of wins on all counts. (at the time, I also wrote him a fan letter, to which he replied. This impressed me a very great deal.)

Everytime since, when we've crossed paths at signings and such, he's blown me away with how unfailingly lovely he is to his fans - he was my first ever book signing, and many authors have suffered by comparison to that early experience. The thing I most remember about the interview for my first job is enthusing about Pratchett with the head of the Central Library - I like to think that he got me the job. The annual exchange of his books is a family tradition with my mother in law. (I still remember being really thrown the first Christmas it wasn't a Josh Kirby cover, in fact.) I can't count the hours I've spent in the company of this characters.

But, as he says, he Aten't Dead, and if the man says there's time for a few more books, well - that's something to hope on.




(1) - if there are non-Brit's reading who need a translation of this, drop me a comment and I'll try and explain.

Friday 7 December 2007

Deck the halls

Unless you're one of the super-organised few, you probably still have pressies to hunt down and decorations to organise - check out Covent Garden's Christmas Deluxe programme. The 12 Days food market's got to be good for gourmet gifts (I need to see if I can find reindeer pate for my dad again) and the decorations exchange sounds like all the fun of picking out new shinies, without any of the costs.

Monday 19 November 2007

Firsts @ The Royal Opera House / Bassline Circus

In a fit of pragmatism, I realise that the entry I was planning to go with this link isn't going to happen any time soon, so while it's still timely enough to be useful:

http://esales.roh.org.uk/tickets/production.aspx?pid=3641

Three sets of pick-n-mix contemporary British dance at the ROH's Lindbury Studio, starting tomorrow, for the princely sum of £5 a head. There are still a few tickets available. You should take advantage of that before someone else does.

Also : Bassline Circus, at Kings Cross on Friday, which is FREE.

(http://www.basslinecircus.org/ for info about them, www.arrivals2007.org.uk about Friday)

Friday 9 November 2007

time keeps slipping

Between being busy and being ill I have totally failed to blog in a timely manner about

: two author talks, incl Ackroyd.
: Wellcome series on medicine and the written word.
: Fireworks Night
: Remembrance Day and conversations with Poppy People
: upcoming Lord Mayor's Show
: continuing 2012 stuff
: New 'empty plinth' statue (in brief - hated it three years ago, not much keener now, although it's kind of cool after dark)

Still, onwards, ever onwards, and I'm not too late to wish everyone Happy Diwali!

Thursday 4 October 2007

the carpet weren't rolled out

Dance Umbrella's 2007 season started yesterday, with a blend of pay-for and free contemporary dance events around the capital over the rest of the month.

http://www.danceumbrella.co.uk/festival.html

(Whether you’re a dance fanatic or a Bob the Builder fan, this one is for you. may just be the ultimate tagline. How can anyone not want to know what the piece that refers to is like?)

Tuesday 2 October 2007

Only last night I found myself lost by the station called King's Cross

In the middle of November, the Eurostar switches from Waterloo to St Pancras station (and soon there will be Stratford International making it even easier still for me to get to France - hurrah!) To celebrate there's ten day's worth of pick-and-mix arts events based around the Kings Cross area - performances, exhibitions, films, walking tours - and most of them look to be a) interesting and b) free. The festival's called 'Arrivals' - worth a look, methinks.

(Also, re the lyrics that title this post, new Pet Shop Boys video, Integral - one of the blue background blurs is me, and that's Senate House looming behind the double helix. If there are any of 'my' students reading this, they should recognise the underground tunnels and a particular CCTV shot as well.)

Tuesday 25 September 2007

oh no he didn't!

There's something quintessentially English about Punch and Judy (foundations in Commedia dell Arte not withstanding), and while it ought to be appreciated in it' natural habitat, aka the seaside, Covent Garden's not a bad spot either.

The Punch and Judy Fellowship's annual festival takes place on Sunday 30th September In the North Piazza of Covent Garden Market, London WC2 From 10.00am until approx. 5.00pm.

Friday 21 September 2007

oh so intricate

Advance Warning - London Film Festival

London Film Festival - 17th October to 1st November - opens for public ticket bookings on the 29th September. With showings for so many acclaimed films, some that would not otherwise get a UK screening , and many of them attended by the people involved in making them, from actors and directors, to producers and stuntmen it's o surprise that events during the festival sell out quickly. If you see something that appeals amongst the hundreds of films and events on offer - don't hang about!

There are also a number of more public events, including screenings in Trafalgar Square on the 18th and 19th October, including a screening of Hitchcock's ‘Blackmail’ as well as archive footage showing 100 years of London, from top-hatted Edwardians through swingers in 60s Soho up to nearly-now, all set to piano accompaniment.

Wednesday 19 September 2007

he doesn't look a thing like Jesus.

Having fallen over it on Monday, and then had another quick skim on Tuesday, I still went and spent my lunch break taking another stroll around the Lomographers WorldWall that's currently taking centre stage in Trafalgar Square.

I first heard of the lomo phenomenon about five years ago, and I still think it sounds basically groovy. Not quite groovy enough for me to rush out and buy one of their cameras, unfortunately, although the fantastic colour saturation that even the most basic of snapshots takes on is very tempting.

But they're right - just holding a camera makes you look differently. My current project is a 365 - a photo a day for a year. I haven't had time to upload them in months, but I have been taking them. Every day. And I'm not bored yet. The world's full of so many moments that can be beautiful if you look at them from the right angle.

The LomoWorldWall is in situ till Saturday - both the images and the display are great, and well worth detouring to visit.

Tuesday 18 September 2007

He drinks a lager drink, he drinks a cider drink

This came up in conversation * over the weekend : SIRC's Passport to the Pub. It's a little dated now - pre smoking ban and extended hours - but the core material's not far off the mark. (I've worked bar jobs - yes, the invisible queue really does work.)

NB. This piece forms the foundation of the (obvious) chapter of Kate Fox's Watching the English, which has equally been lapped by legal changes, but is equally light reading and, I think, basically right more often than it's basically wrong.

* in the pub, as it happens ...

Wednesday 12 September 2007

our house

As always, London Open House is a cruel temptress - there's far more that I want to do than the laws of time and space will allow, and as I will mostly be spending the weekend helping people *move* house, I've had to restrict myself to only pre-booking one thing (a guided tour of the main Stratford Olympic site).

Still, the Flikr riches that will no doubt bloom after the fact may cushion the blow.

Tuesday 11 September 2007

it's not the end of the world

Imperial Wharf Jazz Festival - I'm going to be at a wedding the other side of London, probably listening to the bestman's speech right around the time Babyhead are playing... Other people should clearly go and enjoy them for me.

(While I try and re-arrange my Friday night so I can fit this into it. The Tate Modern people have such very nifty ideas sometimes.)

Friday 7 September 2007

we could be heroes

Earlier this week, one of my students asked me to recommend a film that I thought was the most accurate representation of contemporary London.

This is the point when I realised that my first answer was going to be Shaun of the Dead, and the second one was Dr Who. Given that zombies and aliens do not play a major part in my daily life, this may say more about the sort of films and tv I watch than the city in which I live...

Previous conversations about London-ish films have brought up:

Notting Hill (Hugh Grant et al clearly inhabit some sub-set of London which I do not)
Sliding Doors (ditto)
Alfie (fails the contemporary clause)
Snatch (fails the accurate clause)
Four Weddings (fails both the contemporary and the Hugh Grant clauses, although it's the best of the RomComs that are not RomComZoms.)
Clockwork Orange (fails the contemporary clause)
28 Days Later - (potential future, so fails the contemporary clause)
Children of Men - (ditto - although it is brilliant)

So I turn the question over to you. What film do you think is the most accurate representation of contemporary London?

Tuesday 4 September 2007

But down in the underground

Tube Strikes. Again. Although, actually, this time I kind of support the cause - PPP always was a horribly bad idea, and I'm all in favour of bringing the contracts back in-house. Just not of this course of action. Bob Crow is a thoroughly obnoxious guy, and since the whole round where they were striking in support of people who were drinking on the job, the RMT's reputation is far from shining. (It may be a different matter if the other TfL unions come out as well - the TSSA especially, and they are threating too, if the pensions thing isn't resolved.)

Still, I'm fairly sure the RMT aren't going to accomplish anything with this apart from making several thousand people's commutes nightmarish, confusing tourists, and denting the retail industry. Most of us have travelcards so TfL already have our money, and it's not like coming in by other routes is any *cheaper*.

My usual 50 minute journey was well over the two hour mark this morning, and I'm in the deeply irritating position of needing to renew my annual travelcard this week, which means queueing up to pay TfL well over a grand for a service that's not currently running ....

Sunday 2 September 2007

in the middle of our street

Thanks to my friends and relations getting themselves hitched at a prodigious rate this autumn, I don't have any free time this week to go and enjoy / take part in the E17 Art Trail. (runs from now till the 9th), and I think I'll have about half a day free over the Open House weekend (15 &16th Sept), which is nowhere near enough time to take advantage of their generous offerings...

Good job I adore the friends and relations involved, really :D

Thursday 23 August 2007

it's not over, not over, not over, not over yet

covent garden market stall I was running errands in my lunch break today, and tripped over where they're setting up for the last of Covent Garden's Night Markets for the year. I wasn't all that impressed when I went to the first one - I've been spoiled by Borough Market. I was expecting not having to get up early on a Sunday morning to balance out any reduction of choice, but that turned out not to be the case.

Nevertheless, I might have popped back this evening to the grab some good cheese on my way home if I wasn't going to France tomorrow...

If you're in town and in the area, go, taste, enjoy, indulge, but if you're not, I don't think it's really worth a special trip.

Friday 10 August 2007

Come and hold my hand

Several folks at my workplace, myself included, subscribe to a police public information bulletin list for central London. Obviously, we're signed up in case there's a major event, but (fortunately) most of the messages are pretty mundane - RTAs and road closed for events; that sort of thing. And sometimes they tell a story.

7.01 pm - Missing : Liverpool Street British Rail Station 6 year old Black Child wearing Blue t-shirt with scooby doo motif blue shorts any info to BTP Liverpool Street Station
9.15 pm - Update to child missing from Liverpool Street Station: the child has been found safe and well.

It's a big city, a big station, and one small child - well - thanks be for happy endings.

Thursday 12 July 2007

go out and do something more interesting instead

I've had a few days off work recently, to host a friend who was visiting London for the first time. It's always such a blast to show people around, and have an excuse to do the more touristy stuff that most of the time I'd never get to do.

In recent days I have (on alphabetical order)

Been both up and down the Thames on both banks at different times of day and night, and agreed that it is always fantastic.
Been defeated by Old Dutch Pancakes
Been underwhelmed by the London Mithraeum (which is always better in my head, and even then not a patch on San Clemente)
Caught the sun.
Climbed St Paul's.
Climbed the Monument.
Crossed *almost* all the bridges.
Explored the Guildhall.
Failed to understand why the Worshipful Company of Cutlers have an elephant. (Wiki says it's the ivory connection - and that they're guessing.)
Found a bat at the Globe.
Gone up Tower Bridge for the princely sum of 25p (as one of the attendants said to his colleague - much closer to it's value than the usual price of admission)
Loved my city a lot.
Not strangled any tourists in the British Museum .
Not wanted to strangle any tourists in the V&A.
Peeked inside any number of churches.
Petted Samuel Johnson's cat.
Picked favourite giant guitars from the array down by City Hall.
Sung 'Like a Virgin' loudly to Queen Elizabeth I, in the National Portrait Gallery. (amongst other things - as part of the Sing London festivities, before anyone wonders!)
Taken lots of photos I haven't sorted out yet.
Visited Kew, and lost all track of time.
Walked half all over London (we're both inveterate pedestrians, and walking is a great way of seeing things in passing.)

(My guest also toured the Tower of London and brace of Royal Palaces on her own, as well as attending service at Westminster Abbey.)

Yup - I am still in love with this place!

Monday 2 July 2007

another brick in the wall

I still don't understand how anyone can live in London and not develop a certain amount of love for architecture. My inner architecture-geek says: this looks so cool!


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Friday 29 June 2007

Quit holding out and draw another breath

In a fit of being observant this morning, I managed to come in to work, just around the corner from Haymarket, without noticing that anything was awry.

I was reading the current novel, rather than the paper, this morning, so it wasn't till I read my emails and found the police-bulletins to local residents and a couple from concerned friends overseas that I figured out that there was anything I should have been paying attention to.

(It makes me feel slightly better that a friend who works one building down from the cordon line, only noticed when she discovered a policeman blocking her usual path towards breakfast!)

All hail to the folks who stepped in and diffused the car bomb.

It's not a good or a happy thing that it's occurred, but - I don't know - it's not going to stop me coming to work, or coming into town over the weekend, unless the situation changes quite drastically.

I might have to dig out the version of The Clash's London Calling overdubbed with Blair's 7/7 speech which we danced to the next day, not 200 yards from Kings Cross, though.  

The purpose of terrorism is just that, it is to terrorise people and we will not be terrorised.

Thursday 28 June 2007

when the lightening strikes

Before it fades, I want to try and sketch down some thoughts about all the dance I've been able to see in the last few days. (I love the free festival season!)

On Saturday I dipped into the Docklands+Greenwich Festival (external events kept me from doing more of it, but - next year!) The theme for the festival this year was 'bringing the inside, out'. Huddling under the canopy of the dock willing the rain to stop, unfortunately, does bring to mind the advantages of the inside ... Actually, the crews did great job of keeping things running and safe, and much kudos to the dancers for working through and around it. I overheard a bit of bitching that we were 'kept waiting' while both crew and dancers mopped down and towel-dried the stage at one point, which infuriated me - a bad slip could end someone's career, ffs!

Down on the riverside, I caught the end of Motionhouse's 'bar hopper' piece. Maybe it's 'cos I wandered up part way through, but this didn't grab me. (Fondest memory is, in fact, watching the next performers, Hofesh Schechter, warming up off to the side of the steps I was sitting on, and seeing two of them quietly taking the mick out of Motionhouse's 'club' music by launching into a synchronised phrase of the Joey Dance ;D )

Hofesh Shechter - who were why I was over on that stage - were the highpoint of the day for me. They were also the closest to getting rained off entirely, and I'm very glad that they persevered. I saw them at the Sadlers Wells Sampled with the same piece, Uprising. I loved it then, and it was fascinating to see it again - this time almost from the wings - sat on the floor, two feet to stage left, so sometimes the dancers 'off' were my view, and I was close enough to see every expression, every breath, hear the foot-falls. (I tried to take a few photos, but didn't want to stop *watching*, so they're not particularly good.)

Les Ballets Grooms were sadly miss advertised. They were really fun, and really talented, (and identifiably *French*), but the comedy was more musical than dance, and it wasn't quite what I wanted to be watching (although you can't really argue with the Nutcracker played by a brass band hidden inside a big pulsating purple sheet ;p) so I bowed out at the transition point where they led a procession off to their second stage.

Frustratingly, I still didn't make it across in time to catch Upswing, as that also sounded interesting, but that meant I did manage to be in the right place at the right time for Sol Pico. Unfortunately, the rain made it too - which did give the fantastic vision of their burning, brilliant orange-clad dancer sweeping across steel grey clouds, but also meant almost all of the ground-based action was obscured by umbrellas. Fortunately, a lot of the action takes place on the bus (a skeletal framework made out of rusted metal) - sort of a Mad Max meets Priscilla Queen of the Desert vibe - and the characters being portrayed were so vibrant and larger than life, it was well worth getting a bit chilly and damp for.

(I did skip the final show I'd planned to go to, though. There's only so much wet and cold I can take in the pursuit of free dance! Although possibly it's better than last year's sunburn...)

Yesterday's dose was part of the City of London Festival:

Steps of St Paul's - Étonne moi! - Students and graduates of the Central School of Ballet perform a spectacular concert of ballet and contemporary dance, including the world première of new work by guest Parisian choreographer, Sir Lionel Hoche.

Thanks to Adventures with Busses I managed to miss most of the first piece, and all that really registered was that the costumes were not to my tastes, but the music was an interesting celtic-ish bodrum-and-chant sort of thing. And I was surprised how few people there were watching. Okay, so the steps of St Pauls are quite *big*, and, if you work, you have to be pretty close to get to these mid-day performances, but still - I guess after the Docklands lot, I was expecting more crowd. Anyway - there were enthusiastic people, but not so many I couldn't see, and then wriggle into better positions as the performance continued.

Second piece was a very cool Handel-inspired piece, with lots of group work. One of the things that really pleased me about it was how they handled the exposed, in the round, outdoors space, switching costumes and roles in full view, and keeping the narrative running in that thread, but completely demarcating the 'performance-performance' space at the same time. They had a 'backstage' in one corner, with a clothes rail that doubled as a barre, and a microphone in another corner, with the 'story' starting with the auction of Degas's Little Dancer - only the statue is revealed to be a real dancer, as the 'auction house staff' broke the statue, so they switch to trying to auction off other dancers as well, and then - I'm writing this and having sudden paranoia that I'm mixing together two pieces - I'll have the check back with the reviews later and see. Anyway - yes - sets of solos and pas de deux, while other dancers in various crazy costumes stepped forward to add bits of spoken word over the music 'Handel repeats a lot' being one repeated phrase I remember. 'Handel rhymes with handle. And candle. And scandal' another. And some very beautiful dance too - I really enjoyed this one. Also they get bonus points for ending with a reversal of several of my-favourite-ballroom-scenes-on-film by having the music by Handel, but the dancers dancing as though they were in a contemporary club.
(This is one of my favourite photos - the 'backstage' bit. )

Third piece was a pair of be-blazered soft-shoe-shufflers, which I think suffered cruelly for being under grey skies and amidst tower blocks - the same interlude down in Docklands in the sun would have felt very different.

Final piece was just lovely - very watery in both movement and costuming - there was a repeating two-person move that I cannot describe, which more than anything made me think of the traditional image of Pisces, with two fish twisted around each other. I know that I will utterly fail to do it justice, and can't remember enough solid facts to attempt a description, but I was entranced. Also. reminded just how beautiful the classic shapes of ballet are. It's a privilege to get to see dancers this close up, with less of the stage lights and razzle dazzle, so you can see the beauty and the strength without getting glitter-pretty in your eyes.

(I tried to take more photos this time:learning from the weekend, I sort of picked my default frame, and then just took shots without looking - lots of missed moments, but a few decent ones, and it wasn't distracting me from *watching*. The link will take you to the set, but if you only look at two, how about this and this?)







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Monday 25 June 2007

I am displeased.

I've just got home from a gig, and - role on July 1st!



The gig itself was fantastic, but I actually had to bail early, missing the headline act, because my asthma's been playing up recently, and the cigarette smoke was acting faster than my inhaler. Fortunately I was there for the two main support acts. Sitting on the tube, I was so very aware that my clothes smelt of smoke, my hair smelt of smoke, even my *bag* smelt. I had to do laundry and get in the shower before I could even make myself a cup of tea when I got in.



I love going to gigs (there's just nothing like live music) but I can so very much live without the attendant air pollution.

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Saturday 23 June 2007

sometimes I go out by myself and I look across the water

There are too many good, free, events going on this weekend!

I think I'm mostly going to focus my energies on the Greenwich + Docklands festival which was so very good last year, but that does mean I'm missing out on the West End Live goodness, as well as Londonists's Waterloo walk, and Tottenham Carnival.

Not enough hours in the day, or days in a weekend!

(Next weekend will be Pride, and Sing London...)

Thursday 14 June 2007

And the public wants what the public gets

This is interesting to me – we've had the morning Metro for, what. about five, six years now? And it's coming up a year that there have been competing evening freebies. And yet they still haven't worked this out…



There comes a point when the thing to do is bring the mountain to Mohammed, surely? Almost everyone seems to think that if you leave your paper on the tube, it'll get recycled. So, rather than complaining that people should know to take their paper home with them to recycle, why aren't the papers left on trains recycled?



Well, okay – many of them are directly recycled, in that they're read by more than one person. I work a late-ish shift at work, so most mornings, if I read the Metro it's because someone left it on the seat.(1)



But why not recycled-recycled?



The papers left on trains. Most of them aren't mixed with other litter when they're left on the train. They're mixed with other litter when the clean up crews come through and pick up the papers and put them in a rubbish bag with other litter. The litter pickers are all people capable of telling the difference between newspapers and general litter, so why not equip them all with two plastic sacks instead of one?



The same kind of goes for cans and plastic bottles, in fact. Seeing as my council collects all three mixed together on a domestic scale, presumably there is a use for them in that form, so; one litter-picker, two bags, a whole lot less landfill.



Possibly there's a reason why something that looks that simple isn't, and the idea has been considered and discarded for good reason. But what if the various companies involved are so busy trying to work out who should pay for what that it hasn't?



***

(1) (If I read TheLondonPaper it's because I've finished my book, and I'm that bored. If I read LondonLite it's because I'm alone on a train late at night, a drunk guy is trying to engage me in conversation and I have no other form of cover… Under these circumstances, experience has shown, I will also read Ice Hockey Review, the stock data in the Financial Times, and a discarded programme from a musical you couldn't pay me to attend.)

Tuesday 12 June 2007

Every time that I look on the first day of summer

I've been meaning to post this one for a while : the London Street Signs Project. (1) In their own words:



The London Street Signs project celebrates London's evolution through its rich cartographical heritage.

(They) dress up and stand next to street signs.

Is this not joy?

Especially when you combine it with perfectly formed frames of local history, and tie it up with a luxurious map-based bow.

***

(1) the link will take you directly to Orange Street, which is close to my workplace, and as good a starting point as any. Mostly because it reminded me that, as a small child, I was once sent to a school fancy-dress party as Nell Gwyn...











Thursday 7 June 2007

from the highest hills

I've got a friend coming up to stay this weekend, and we're looking at the Open Garden Squares weekend, and trying to work out if it's better value for money than  assembling a picnic at Borough Market and wandering down to Greenwich Park or similar.



Garden Squares is £6 / head, and has several very interesting looking gardens on the list (although no longer Holloway Prison, which is one of the ones that caught my eye).



Greenwich Park is, of course, free, but the various specialities on offer at Borough Market could easily be that much more than grabbing sandwich ingredients in the supermarket.  They'll be at least that much more delicious to, though.

Thursday 31 May 2007

Ad men plan again

I am pro-Olympics. I'm proud that my city won the bid for 2012. I think it has an incredible potential to positively affect all sorts of things, not least of which would be my immediate neighbourhood. I'm okay with paying for some of that through my council tax. I'm on the pre-reg list for volunteer slots, because - why not?  I can walk to most of the venues!



But this This does not particularly fill me with joy.



Maybe I'm dysfunctional as a member of a consumerist twenty-first century community, but I'm just not excited about the opportunity to be "introduced to the new London 2012 brand".



Mostly I'm just irritated by receiving an email where 5% of the words used are 'brand'.

Wednesday 30 May 2007

One of many zeroes

Hmm - free Britpop. This looks like it could be a fun blast from the past. (and if it's not - well - it's free and we can always wander off and do something else.)



Bit too late to switch plans for this week, but consider this me making a note for July.



http://www.burnsoobright.co.uk/





Friday 25 May 2007

And altho' so near the landing, I, alas! was cast away.

Dear Firebugs : Please stop burning up historic locations around me. (That and anything that's going to mess up the trains.)



The poor Cutty Sark isn't going to seem real until next time I head over to that neck of the woods. It's almost impossible to imagine the river front there without her. It seems almost disloyal to go visit the Götheburg, although  I probably still will.



Friday 18 May 2007

wombling free

So I've been thinking : what is your favourite thing to do for free in London?



If forced to pick only one, I'd have to say 'walking', which is a total cop-out, I realise, but is still true.



If forced to pick one route? (which is hard!) South bank downriver from Westminster to Tower Bridge, and back up the North bank. I do a part of that walk three, four times a week, and there's always something new to notice. (Yesterday I was not only spotting sculptures on the skyline, but also they've covered the NT in grass ...)



In fact - it's Friday. Let's make a meme.



Your favourite _______ in London.



1 -- free thing to do

2 -- cheap (ish) place to eat

3 -- one-off tourist splurge (say, £30?)



________________________



1 - Walking the river

2 - Mother Mash

3 - River boat either up to Greenwich or down to Hampton Court Palace.

(bonus tip - take the boat to HC with a picnic, and then get the train home, which is quicker and cheaper)



Yours?





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Wednesday 16 May 2007

Now above and beyond the roofs of our city

So it's farewell to one student group, and tomorrow will bring a new lot, here for the short summer session.



It's a tight turn around between the two groups, which means early starts, and late nights for a week or so, but - I don't know. I've covered a fair amount of ground today. Marble Arch in the early morning, Bloomsbury this afternoon, Oxford Street and surrounds in between, a quick dive across Waterloo Bridge to pick up something from Foyles on the South Bank. Ten minutes snatched for lunch, sitting on one of the fountains in Trafalgar Square listening to the water and watching tourists climb the lions. It's worth it, you know? Worth all of it. Because this is mine. This is my home town. I love this place.



And I think that the city has meant something to the folks who are leaving, although I guess I'll never know what or how much, and I hope that it comes to mean something to the ones just arriving.

Thursday 10 May 2007

Nicotine from a silver screen

I won't be able to go, as it clashes with a late working day, but this looks interesting (and free):



An Evening with Alfred Hitchcock

Wednesday 16th May, from 6pm

In 1972, young film journalist Sandra Shevey was granted an audience with the master of mischief, mayhem and murder, Alfred Hitchcock. He was at that time approaching the end of his 50 year career, having just directed the penultimate of his 53 films. The interview was recorded on audiotape, but as befitting the man of mystery, 35 years on, it has never been published or aired...until now!

Sandra will introduce virtually the whole of this fascinating feature-length survey of Hitchcock's career, interspersed with film clips. A word of warning however - some of the subject matter is not for the faint-hearted!

This free event takes place, appropriately, at Westminster Reference Library, in the West End; the heart of Britain's entertainment industry. You will be able browse through the many books relating to Hitchcock, including sixteen books specifically on his life and films.

So is there anything new under the sun to discover about the venerable old rascal? Sandra met him, has seen his complete works, conducts walking tours through Hitchcock's London and is preparing a new book on him: and armed with this priceless recording, if anyone can shed new light on him, she can!

Admission is free, but please book in advance to ensure a place.

Westminster Reference Library,

35 St Martin's Street

WC2H 7HP

Tel: 020 7641 5250

email: pcollins@westminster.gov.uk





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Wednesday 2 May 2007

So melt down all the ornaments

And the story rumbles on : I'm conflicted about Waltham Forest Council's decision to reduce opening hours at it's two main museums. I suspect it's a done deal, but I'd like to believe that it's not.



The Vestry House Museum is a traditional local museum - lots of local history and local knowledge - housed in a sixteenth century poor-house. The William Morris Gallery is housed in one of Morris's family homes, and holds internationally renowned collections of Morris's work.



Both of these are great things.



Neither of them are being closed / sold off / sacked by visigoths.



( Possibly I'm just having an allergic reaction to the tone of some of their supporters. Their website is keepourmuseumsopen.org.uk - just the URL is loaded. )



The council isn't talking about closing them - it's talking about changing the opening hours, partly to save money, partly to extend weekend opening hours in response to resident demand. (OK, so the council aren't linking readily to any evidence of that residents demand, but assuming that they're not just pulling that idea out of thin air ...)



I used to live in Walthamstow, and every time I made it to the William Morris Gallery (which is fantastic) it was on one of it's once-a-month Sunday openings, and because the Vestry House Museum isn't open on Sundays, I never actually visited it. Having them open every Sunday would have improved access for me. In general, more museums and galleries open at weekends is a good thing in my book.



Shifting the museum's 'opening week' to Wednesday though Thursday would be an unabashed good thing. Using weekend opening to distract from cutting hours in total, less so.



The bullet point that most caught my eye on the Friend's site was Education programmes will be taken to the schools rather than inviting schools to the Museums.. And WFC's response flat our contradicts this. We will be actively encouraging schools to make better use of both centres – and will open our doors to them during the week for pre-arranged visits. From a teaching perspective, having exclusive access to a whole museum with a curator-lead education program is also a good thing. If it happens.



But the council's plans are worrying - don't get me wrong - the shift to part time hours is obviously going to affect the staff, and their knowledgebase, their passion, are resources as much as the artefacts of the museum. It's also going to make life more difficult for serious researchers, and it's predicated on the assumption that most of the people most of the time a) work, and b) work in Monday-to-Friday jobs, and I'm not sure that's a truth which can be universally acknowledged.



It's difficult to argue that the day-to-day needs of the residents shouldn't take priority over 'luxuries' like museums, but just by setting the question in those terms WFC are sliding a set of assumptions into the debate which I'm not sure I agree with - that history and art and local roots are luxuries. (Well - they're not Maslow basics, agreed, but I'd argue they meet needs in the second tier...)



They're holding a procession/protest on Saturday, in celebration/support of Vestry House. That might just be a thing to go join in with.



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Friday 27 April 2007

we're not happy till we're choking

I can't quite work out if this sounds completely bonkers in the good way, or just completely bonkers. (reading the menu/map doesn't help)

Tuesday 24 April 2007

Life's a laugh and death's a joke it's true

So what did you do today, brain?



Well, after work I wandered out into the street, and surrounded myself with a miscellaneous bunch of four and half thousand people in search of silliness, and - really - that was a good choice.



I have participated in an exceedingly silly world record - woot! Well, sort of.



I arrived too late, and was still in the queue they ran out of coconuts, so I'm not officially a participant. And my camera was out of battery so there are no photos (at least, none from me). And trying to find people amongst four and a half thousand other people is kind of hard, so I didn't (sorry Nikki!) But I was there ;p And really, the addition of the threat of rain, queues, and the expectation of failure implied by having less coconuts than people just makes it more English, really.



Not quite as awesome as the flashmob pillow fight, but I did wander off afterwards humming Always Look on the Bright Side of Life, with a smile on my face, so I count that as a win.



And now I'm back home with a soft, sweet, Williams pear, and a crisp, honeyed Elstar apple, (thanks to Abel and Cole), and the positively decadent two-year-old unpasteurised farm-made cheddar I treated myself to at Borough Market this weekend, which seems like a good feast for things English to me.

Sunday 22 April 2007

For life is quite absurd

I'm English. I'm also the sort of person who finds nationalism a really uncomfortable subject, so much so that I find it hard to write 'I'm proud of being English'. It's more or less an accident of birth, so - why is proud the relevant emotion? (1)

But with St George's day on the horizon, the subject's on my mind.

It's going to be on my doorstep tomorrow, with the events being laid on in Trafalgar Square and Covent Garden, and it's probably stupid that I'd be much more enthusiastic about a screening of Monty Python and the Holy Grail and a Coconut Orchestra world record attempt if it *wasn't* associated with St George's and Being English TM.

That said, if they're still taking registrations when I finish work, I might have to go join in. There's something very pleasing about the public foregrounding of something so patently ridiculous, silly, and fun. Way to undercut the bombast of nationalism!

In other news, the silent film screenings at The Globe in honour of Shakespeare's birthday also sound good.

(1) In fact, I most identify as British rather than English, and nationality is a fair way down my self-definition list. Being English only really impinges when I'm being ashamed of of English people being spectacularly stupid, violent, and/or drunk, and I have to actively remember that most of the time the St George's flag being flown/worn/displayed has less to do with violent nationalism and more to do with, say, supporting a sports team.

Tuesday 17 April 2007

Lay down, play dead for Di and Fergie


16th April 2007
I cannot begin to tell you how much I don't care. Or how angry I am that editors are telling me that this is the most important thing that's happened in the world today.

Tuesday 10 April 2007

And to cricket those ten same rules shall apply.

Cricket's a wonderful creature. Now, I grew up with the sport. My dad and my brother both played at town level, my sister at school inter-county level, and even I once represented my form. I still couldn't explain all the intricacies of the three-day Test variant. But it is a common-or-garden game here. Really.

I took a walk in the park yesterday, taking advantage of the beautiful weather, and it was bustling - swarming may even be the word for the kids' play areas.

There were joggers, and dog walkers, and people with prams, and people of all ages enjoying the space. There were a few people playing frisbee, a couple of groups of people practising poi, people on the tennis courts, and people in the bowling nets, working on their (cricket) delivery.

And there were a hundred and one pick-up football games - soccer, for the US readers

And at least the same number of games of rough and ready cricket.

The kind with a tree or a bag as wickets, and a jumper for the other end, and maybe four people catching. The kind you play with a tennis ball and a three-ninety-nine bat from a toyshop. Or a bright orange plastic bat from Woolworths. There were adults, and teenagers, and kids, and three utterly adorable toddlers playing clumsily through the middle of a family picnic.

And then, earlier today, my neighbours' kids were playing out. They were playing cricket, with one of the traffic bollards that stops people driving through the end of my culd-e-sac as their wicket, and a very familiar sounding set of 'home' rules. If they hit parked car, they were out. If they got the ball into one of the front gardens across the way - that was a four. (When I was a kid, playing in my back garden, the pond was an immediate out, the hedge and house roof were fours, and the chimney stack or over the house was a six. All of those things happened enough to have rules for them.)

So when I hear people talking about cricket as if it's a weird esoteric thing that only wealthy people play, it always throws me. That's - polo or something, surely? Not cricket.

Thursday 5 April 2007

What's that shadow on the wall

Friday Late : Animate @ the VandA - that was a whole lot of fun.

Partly the truly excellent company, to be fair, but also a good part because the VandA know's what they're doing. The Shadow Monster's interactive doobrie just didn't stop being *cool* every time we looped back past it, the show reels were suitable impressive, and while the filmed stop-motion collaborations were a bit too audience-participatory for me, I did make a flip book, and collaborated on a zeotrope.

But mostly it was just pleasing to me to spend time with friends in this amazing building (the re-opened Poynter Room cafe is still just beautiful) surrounded by music and people and shiny things. The atmosphere is totally different to visiting the museum at any other time. I think it is the music - a really crowded day would probably be as loud, but the music being played gives the sound shape. That and the fact that everyone's there for the same thing, even if they're doing different parts of it.

The next one's on the 27th. Ritual.

Sunday 25 March 2007

I'll wait here once again

Diamond Geezer is frequently good reading - and sometimes he just goes ahead and writes the post I was going to write. Just a link for you then - Stratford has a Starbucks now??



(I'm a fence-sitter on the subject of major multi-national coffee chains. I see the arguments against, but at the same time, independent coffee shops are not falling over themselves to give me the option of sitting somewhere that's not a pub, chatting with a friend at ten in the evening. I figure that I'm not paying £3 for a coffee, I'm paying £3 for the place to sit and natter that isn't a pub full of loud drunks. I think that's worth it. Of course the new local is open more or less while I'm at work, so won't be getting my custom, but when and if they start offering me that essential service, I won't complain.)

Thursday 22 March 2007

in a rich man's world

Need a one-stop-shop for coverage of yesterday's budget? Intute and LSE Library oblige.



[as I flipped past the news last night, the presenter was laboriously explaining the 'the Gord giveth and the Gord taketh away' pun used in several headlines. There is something quite wrong about the fact they felt the reference needed explaining. The image of Gordon Brown with a long flowing grey beard will, however, haunt me for a while.]

Wednesday 21 March 2007

Such a horror, oh such a farce

Jump at the Peacock Theatre this evening. This is me grinning. Still.



I have to confess that I didn't think it was quite as hysterical as I'd been lead to believe, but it was a lot funnier and more impressive than their taster at the Sadler's Wells Sampled, and I had a really good night.



Both the stage craft and the technical skills were right up there. (except some of the staff work, which was patchy in places). It's very physical humour, which isn't always my thing, but it's riffing off more Hong Kong Specials than you can shake a stick at, which is a plus to me.



It does come with an audience participation warning, though, which kind of spoiled things a bit for me, as I can't quite get past my anxiety-by-proxy when people are hauled out of the audience and (potentially) humiliated on stage.



But once we were past that, the final scene with the burglars, was utterly *brilliant* - character, comedy, tricks, finesse. They deserved every second off the applause, and probably more.



Definitely a good evening's entertainment, and one that was all the better for being enjoyed with a big group of friends. If it hadn't been a week night it would have been an excellent precursor to a longer night out. (As it was someone stood outside taking deposits on assorted martial arts classes would have made a killing!)



In other news : the lineup for Breakin' Convention 2007 has gone up. choices choices ...

Tuesday 13 March 2007

coming for to carry me home

Yesterday morning I came home to London by plane. I've never flown over the city that low, or when the weather was so clear, and it was amazing to be able to see the centre of the city laid out like a familiar map. The Thames really *does* look like the Eastender's title card, for one thing.

Maybe it's having spent a day recently peering at maps, but I was able not just to pick out the bridges and the Houses of Parliament and which park was which, but also to check that my workplace was still standing (1) The new Wembley arches really stand out in all that mass of north west housing, too!

I got a bit lost once we were west of that, until, nearly at Heathrow, I got a glimpse of a silver tube train rocking along the route I'd be taking back home.

It's good to be back.


(1) Other people do do that, right? When you've been away, and you come back and see your house for the first time, and you think 'not burned down - that's good'. No? Just me then. Huh.

Wednesday 7 March 2007

Another map of your head

I spent part of Friday evening mooching around the National Portrait Gallery, using it's late night opening to pass the time before my evening's engagement.

The Pet Shop Boys mini-show that was on its last weekend was a bit uninspiring, being mostly very well known shots, but elsewhere in the contemporary galleries there were several new-to-me pieces that I was very taken with (and I always love visiting Andrew Motion's Head - it's so tactile.) As is so typically me, the portrait of Johnson Beharry, which I really liked, isn't on their site, so I can't follow up the reference to a related painting I now can't remember any of the details about (something about a cavalry officer?)

Up on the first floor, you're immediately faced by a wall of Jim Dine's self-portraits - I have to admit I was very taken by a pair, one very dark black and red, full of anger, and then next to it, an etched silver-under-black version that somehow reminded me of ancient gods. The Exceptional Youth set, both sides of one bay of the curved dividers, also grabbed me - beautiful images, but also very narrative, somehow.

Rounding the corner from that first floor gallery I was forcibly reminded how much I love how the NPG uses it's space to orient you - the clean, contemporary, late 20th / 21st century new acquisitions, all curved beech and glass, and then you turn a corner and it's ox-blood walls, gold frames, and Victorians ... The dotty glass dividers in the earlier 20thC gallery pleases me also - and the current focus on women writers was fascinating - so many familiar names and so few familiar faces.

But the hands-down winner for me was Nick Danziger's Blair at War series, which manage to be both documentary, aesthetic, and powerfully moving. There's one shot that could be the image of a dispossessed leader - TB to one side, being made up for the cameras, while the foreground is filled with his staff and advisers, deep in confab. Put next to the shot of TB and Bush, chatting casually on the terrace at Camp David, deciding the course of the war, though, it's just the opposite.

And then I spent Saturday afternoon with a friend braving the closing weekend crowds for the London: A Life In Maps exhibition at the BL. All those reviews when it opened that said it was brilliant? They were quite right, but it's too late now. There were an awful lot of people, and as the maps all pretty much demanded you to get up close and personal to spot road names and landmarks, there were some traffic snarls, but pleasingly, the kind of people who seem to want to spend a chunk of their weekend getting their geek on about the evolution of London place names also seem to be quite friendly and happy to point things out / have things pointed out to them.

It was striking how unrecognisable so much of the pre-Wren city is, not helped by the centre point of many of the maps being Southwark Cathedral / London Bridge, which on a modern map are over to the east. And disconcerting how, in the early maps, you can see the back of London - the point to the North where the houses end. I know it's facing the other way, but I couldn't help remember standing in front of Alexandra Palace on fireworks night last year and seeing the city stretch south into the horizon...

We were going to follow up with a trip to The Building Centre, but we lost track of time both in the exhibition and over coffee, so they were shut by the time we got over there. Another day.

Thursday 1 March 2007

Sometimes it's hard / It's hard to tell

I nipped over to the Proud Gallery in my lunch break today, to take a look at their new exhibition : The Sims Life Stories : The Art of the Teen Dilemma.



It was just about worth fifteen minutes of my day, and it wouldn't have been if I'd got rained on on the walk over there. It's glorified advertising, and I've come to expect better of Proud Galleries, who normally do a fabulous job of blending the aesthetic and the commercial.



Maybe I'm being unfair.



By juxtaposing screencaps of the new Sims with blown up images from girl's magazines from the last fifty years, they're clearly not going for the aesthetically engaging, more the sociological angle, but even so it's just not as interesting as they seem to think it is.



The problem is that it's not *hard* to find photo-stories and comic strips in which teenage girls (1) are shown being insecure and obsessed with boys and make-up and what their BFF really thinks of them, so what does the exhibition think it's saying? The more things change the more they stay the same? Maybe. Probably.



But the heavy dollop of branding doesn't lead you to question or conclude or react to that, it just says 'and now we can do the stilted poses and predictable dialogue without needing to photograph models.' which leaves me with a overwhelming feeling of 'and?'



The press release is peppered with words like 'legendary'
'unprecedented', 'cumulation of the evolution of storytelling'. It's
really not helping me be impressed.



When you think of the actually kind of nifty things people do with the Sims, this exhibition just seems like even more of a let down. (Having Depeche Mode re-record a song in Simlish? Good advertising-meets-art, IMO. This? not so much.)



On the plus side, it's only a two week exhibition, so it'll be over soon.





(1) In fact - that's part of why I found it more infuriating than anything else - they're conflating 'teenager' with 'girl' - at a guess because the Sims is a 'girl game'? (I wouldn't know - I'm more of a Rez / GTA girl m'self) Even when they've picked a comic or photo-story about boys, it's actually about the girl he stood up to work on his boat, or the girl he fancies but can't talk to, or the lass who's been holding an exaggerated cheesecake pose in her bikini for the last couple of hours while, unbeknownst to her, he draws her...





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this mutt is not the greatest of his worries

This discussion 'through' Neil Gaiman's blog about librarianship, and intellectual freedom and scrotums/scrota is a pretty good example of why the love mentioned in Neil's post is reciprocated in the case of this particular librarian.



I'm not American, so I'm not ALA, but I am CILIP, and the principles still apply.



(If it's not obvious from the link above what discussion I'm talking about, try the , , and labels)

Monday 26 February 2007

yes, no, stay, go

Don't you just hate it when the hype is right? I mean, I have a certified weakness for pop-punk that I keep forgetting to be ashamed about, but still. I've been seeing The Buck Brothers' name around and about for a while, but having finally listened to some of the songs, they sound - well - fun. In a way that makes me think seeing them live will either kill off any interest I have entirely, or amp it up to eleven.



I'm somewhat miffed that they're playing a free gig at Fopp, Tottenham Court Road, tonight, when I'll be helping one of my best friends prepare to move house tomorrow...



Next Monday's world-record-attempting gigathon, though, that kind of sounds like a plan, even though it's clearly a promotional gimic of massively cheeky proportions. If they can pull it off ....



website / myspace

on the streets of London

I just want to put these two things side by side:

Benjamin Zephaniah reading The London Breed

and a podcast made by one of our students, just before they went back to the USA at the end of last year.

I think they both get it.

It's a weird and wonderful world out there, but I wouldn't choose to live anywhere else.


Tuesday 20 February 2007

You say "I ordered you a pancake"

Pancake day!

I'm a little too far away to get over to Brick Lane for the Great Spitalfields Pancake Race but I'll be celebrating later by cooking lots of pancakes for lots of friends.

And I've finally learned my lesson - it doesnt matter how many fancy toppings you offer, the average bear wants lemon and sugar at least half the time - so I've cut the menu to two kinds of sugar (dark brown for flavour, granulated for texture), lemon juice, lime juice, chocolate spread, maple syrup, and cooked apple and blackberry.

While foraging for supplies at the supermarket last night, though, I was momentarily heartened that, amongst all the mixes and packets, they'd actualy put out flour on the 'don't forget pancake day' display. And then my hopes were crushed, because it was self raising flour. The mixes and packets frustrate me, as pancakes are ridiculously simple (and cheap). But self raising flour is just wrong.

For ten or twelve pancakes you need

4oz / 110g plain flour.
2 large eggs.
10fl oz / 275ml semi skimmed milk. (Delia Smith, original source of this recipie, faffs about with whole milk and water, but really - life's too short!)
+
butter or oil for cooking. (Delia says butter, I use oil, which gets hotter without burning, but in any case she's right about the amount - you only need the slightest sugestion of either - the pan needs to be greased, but the pancakes must not fry in fat.)

Break eggs into flour, beat, and then gradually add the milk, whisking all along.

Just accept that your first pancake will probably be a mess, and make sure the pan's hotter and you use less batter for the second, and then - away you go!

Saturday 17 February 2007

And forever your gonna regret that

You know something?

Having more armed police patrolling my city? Does not make me feel safer. Having any armed police officers routinely patrolling the streets does not make me feel safer.

It makes me feel anxious and uncomfortable and distinctly unsafe, in ways that are pretty much entirely unrelated to the incidents that the police are currently responding to(1).

More armed police on standby, yes. More police on foot patrol, yes. But more guns on the streets? Regardless of who's (however carefully selected, well trained) hands they're in? Not so much.

My gut reaction is more or less: 'Gun-totting cops in Stockwell? 'cos that's worked really well in the past …' and my more considered one is to ask 'but how, exactly, is that going to help?

I don't, to be honest, understand the idea that somehow guns on one side neutralise guns on the other – the police are carrying magic guns that shoot a protective force field? No, I didn't think so…

My heart goes out to the families and friends of these three boys. And those of the two? three? other boys who have been stabbed in the same area over the same period and who are equally dead, but rather less all over the papers.

I hope that these murders are solved, and no more are commited.

And I pray that those armed officers never have to fire a bullet at someone to do it.

(Mind you, Cameron's suggestion that somehow tax credits are the answer is just bizarre. "I think we should split up." "But honey – think of the tax breaks!" ??)

(1) partly that it triggers vivid memories of visiting East Berlin when the wall was still very much up.

Wednesday 14 February 2007

I can mash-potato / And I can do the twist

Thanks to Londonist's recommendation, dinner last night was at Mother Mash, just off Carnaby Street, and very yummy it was too.

The menu's delightfully simple, but the mix-and-match style means that there's a fair amount of choice, and even us veggies had several options to pick from. Most of my favourite eating spots are oriental, but sometimes you're not in the mood for sushi, and a big plate of sausage and mash is just the ticket - and this was *good* sausage and mash. (The pie and mash was pretty fab too, according to my dining partner.)

And the service? Was great.

When we squelched in out of the rain they were full, but not only were we made to feel really welcome, and looked after while we waited for a table, they even offered to come and fetch us if we'd rather pop into the pub next door for a pint while we waited. As it happens a table came free within a couple of minutes, but the offer was appreciated.

Definitely a candidate for a repeat visit at some point.

Saturday 10 February 2007

no sir, no dancing tonight

So : Sadler's Wells Sampled : a pick-and-mix selection of dance bits for a fiver. Was it as good a deal as that sounds? Oh yeah!

Although I've had no spare time to write it up properly, and I'm almost certainly not going to, but thanks to the Sony sponsorship, lots of the pieces have film up online I can link you to.
(although they seem to have stripped out the audience's reactions which has done odd things to the audio in places, and does not represent the atmosphere at all...)


Of the pieces we saw on Friday, my top three were:

Random Dance Nemesis duet
Hofesh Shechter Uprising
and my favourite of the night, Vagabond Crew Aliens which would have been worth the price of admission on it's own and then some. If they're going to be back over for Breakin' Convention this year, I will be there.

Tuesday 6 February 2007

The Clash? Just a band

My day was being marred by people inflicting Lily Allen* on me, and then this turned up and made me smile, earning my mental 'myspace band of the day' award : Thou Shalt

*I don't buy the 'but she's from London' argument. There are countless bands and singers from London who are just less *expletive* annoying.

Wednesday 31 January 2007

Turn loose the swans

I was at work late this evening, which meant I was walking across Trafalgar Square at about 9pm, while they were setting up and testing the technology for Flock, which officially starts tomorrow. It's more-or-less an interactive light show, using music and movements from Swan Lake, and it reacts to the people on the 'stage' and there are - well - the blurb calls them ghosts. I thought at first they were shadows of puppets, but when you see them for more than a glimpse, some of them are almost holographic, and some of them are puppets but some of them are filmed dancers. Different parts of the music have different colours and different effects : one essentially ripples blue as people move through it, another traces movements in yellow, another has spotlights which follow you, and let you follow the shadow-dancers, another is text - all text, or text you can only see if you move, or text surrounding a flying swan - and it's kind of interesting to watch, but so much more fun to *do* if you can just forget - as I did - that other people will be watching. It's going to be interesting from a social dynamics POV too, as people intentionally come to see and to take part in it. Tonight was just a rehearsal, and the crowd just people who happened to be passing, and even so - a bit like the Tate Modern slides - part of the fun is watching people play : the people who don't quite dare to step in, and the people who are daring each other to do it, and the people who are fascinated, and the couple waltzing across the square together, and the four girls who teamed up to try and keep the ghosts illuminated...

Basically, it's nifty, and if you are in the area you should go and play.

Wednesday 24 January 2007

The blackest snow falls on London


24th Jan 2007
Snow!

I am cheating on the one-a-day for the 365 Project here, because it just doesn't snow that often down here and it's pretty!

The top shot is what greeted me out of my bedroom window this morning.

The middle shot is on my way into work. Willow Cottage was built in 1863, and is now huddled incongruously between the tube lines and some 1960's low-rise council flats, looking a bit like a witches cottage that someone picked up and dropped.

The bottom shot is also from my walk to the station : gales last week and snow today - this little tree, which was only planted last summer, isn't very happy about that.

Tuesday 23 January 2007

there's wall to wall empty cans

So, last Thursday, whilst the wind was bringing down the entire transport system, I hoofed it up Tottenham Court Road to listen to Kevin Warwick talk about the Brave New World of cybernetics, courtesy of the Engineers Club (1).

I have to confess that the lecture proper was a bit of a disappointment – it confirmed that he is an accomplished self publicist, but he resolutely failed to go anywhere near the ethical issues which he'd put in his lecture title (2) which got a bit frustrating. From the questions, I wasn't the only one who noticed that.

But the event was held at the Building Centre Trust, which gave me the opportunity to explore their current exhibitions. The New London Architecture model of the greater city of London, with all the planned projects in place really is something. I live pretty close by some of the 2012 Olympic schemes and I've seen some of the plans, but there's nothing like the 3D scale model of the whole city to put into context just how much is going to change and, potentially, how much my borough and its neighbours could benefit from the games.

The Places for People Public City exhibition focused in on some of those projects, as well as some that have been completed and others that may never get realised, which was, if anything, more interesting. Architecture brought down to a very human scale, and some of it truly beautiful. The accompanying books isn't bad either, although I really wanted more text, more discussion, more words - but that's just how I'm wired.

I'm planning to wander back up that way in a month or so to see what their upcoming Sustainable London exhibition has to offer.

~~~

(1)(This is largely a networking opportunity for engineers, but as I am not an engineer, and neither is the friend who invited me to the lecture, I can only conclude that they are admirably open minded.)
(2) (Upgrading Humans – Technical Realities and New Morals)

Saturday 13 January 2007

won't be long...

Half price Yo Sushi. I see no bad in this concept. :D

Except that it doesn't start for another two days ....

Monday 8 January 2007

I have seen the writing on the wall.

This is a busy time of year for me, and I'll be working on Saturday, but now that Londonist have drawn my attention to this, I think I know what I'll be doing after that!

Exit

Because If you miss the show, you really won't have any chance of seeing the artwork again.

Or the building for that matter.

Exit is held in Union Works, a disused factory near Tate Modern. This grade II listed building houses the last remaining bear-baiting arena dating from 1680s and is going to be demolished at the end of the exhibition - with all the artworks still within it.


Late opening – January 13th the final night of the building standing - until 10pm.

to get on the bus that takes me to you

It's been a while since the TfL journey planner has been *quite* that obtuse.

If I leave my house and turn right, I am about an 8 minute walk to the nearest tube station, A. If I leave my house and turn left, I am about a 3 minute walk from the nearest bus stop, and about 15 mins past that the second nearest tube station, B.

TfL have a horrible habit of telling me to take a bus to station B to start all my journeys. (They suffer from the benign delusion that buses happen at regular intervals on the relevant routes ... this far out of the centre that just doesn't happen.) I've got in the habit of plotting my journeys from 'Station A' rather than from my house to work around this problem.

On Saturday night I was venturing south of the river to meet up with some friends. I wanted to check that the pub we had arranged to meet at was the one I vaguely remembered, so popped over to BeerintheEvening, who have the TfL planner embedded in their site in such a way as it only takes postcodes.

TfL did not want me to take a bus to station B. Oh no. That would be predictable. They wanted me to take *two* buses, to get to Station A.

Station A that is, if you recall, a ten minute walk, tops. Estimated travel time for that part of the journey by bus? 18 to 24 minutes ....

Friday 5 January 2007

Ok then, back to basics

New year, new blog address. Hi and welcome!

I've just finished moving over a few posts from the old site to give myself something to experiment with, and I'm hoping that the new system will make it a bit easier for me to keep on top of the updates : so many of last year's bits and pieces never actually made it online.

Nothing much to report today, though : they were taking down the tree in the square this morning - a day early for epiphany, mind - which always makes the space look much bigger and bleaker. I think I'm glad that almost all of the lights on the South Bank are regular fixtures, as I'm still walking that way in the dark of an evening, and will be for a couple of months yet.

Today's booking was for Sadler's Wells Sampled - or 3 evenings of very mixed bill dancing for a fiver apiece, with no booking fee. What more could you ask for?