Quote Of The Day

"Victory goes to the player who makes the next-to-last mistake - Chessmaster Savielly Grigorievitch Tartakower (1887-1956)"

Friday, June 28, 2013

The Perfect American...

Last night Paul, Stu and I went to see The Perfect American - Philip Glass's new opera at the London Coliseum

Oh dear. Not very good. Unengaging, boring, and poor. A big disappointment. Especially to a fan Bou like me.

 'Nuff said.


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Thursday, June 27, 2013

Religion vs Mental Illness...

It's interesting when people discuss whether something was motivated by religion or mental illness, like those are different things.

Wednesday, June 26, 2013

The Pet Shop Boys at The O2...

Last week Stuart and I went to see The Pet Shop Boys at The O2. And what a dazzling disco of a show it was.

Ostensibly to promote their new album we were treated to an amazing weave of new songs from last year's low-key Elysium, pumped up techno versions of PSB classics along with songs from the forthcoming dancefloor-dedicated Electric.

The brilliant light show criss-crossed green lasers, illuminated the huge orange flutter bombs and clevery made the shaggy skulled Minotaurs seem to almost float across the stage. We were basically in an enormous, ecstatic rave.

Other highlights were Love Etc where the boys were in adjacent upright beds as writhing dancers' bodies were projected on to the sheets beneath their heads. And rapper Example showed up to sing on joyous new song Thursday which went down a storm.

We'd been whipped into a frenzy when we were asked to crank it up a notch further... Neil bellowed out "OK London, let's do it" as It's A Sin thundered out around the venue and we hurtled towards the finale dancing like loons.

What an ending! What a show! Can't wait to see them a again.

Here's the full set list:-
Axis
One More Chance / Face Like That
Opportunities (Let's Make Lots of Money)
Memory of the Future
Fugitive
Integral
I Wouldn't Normally Do This Kind of Thing
Suburbia
I'm Not Scared
Invisible
Last to Die (Bruce Springsteen cover)
Somewhere (Leonard Bernstein cover)
Leaving
Thursday (with Example)
Love Etc.
I Get Excited (You Get Excited Too)
Rent
Miracles
It's a Sin
Domino Dancing
Go West (Village People cover)
Always on My Mind (Brenda Lee cover)
Encore:
West End Girls
Vocal


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Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Monday, June 24, 2013

Boy George @ Meltdown...

Last night Stuart, Juggy and I went to see Boy George as part of the Meltdown Festival at the Queen Elizabeth Hall on London's glitzy South Bank. Lots of new songs (a good thing), some oldies (also a good thing), awful sound though - distorted and head-ache inducingly loud. Just awful. Such a shame.

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Saturday, June 22, 2013

The Thick Of It...

4 months of build up.
1 weeks of packing.
3 days into a stressful move.
16-hour days.
2 days left before users pitch up.
101 things to fix.
Onwards and upwards!

Friday, June 21, 2013

Stay Put...

I recommended you never move offices. Ever. These 16 hours days are a killer.

Thursday, June 20, 2013

Move It...

Today we are packing up.
Tonight we are moving.
Tomorrow (and all over the weekend) we are trying to make it all work again.
Monday the users pitch up.
Gulp!

Wednesday, June 19, 2013

More To Love...

"You don't love me as much as you used to," Stu cried last night.
"Of course I do," I said. "It's just got a much larger area to cover."

Tuesday, June 18, 2013

The 12:15 Brighton Train...

"Welcome to the 12:15 Brighton train to London Bridge. We shall be travelling at a speed of approximately 90 miles an hour and cruising at a height of approximately 5 and a half feet." 
Suddenly everyone's a comedian. 

Monday, June 17, 2013

Souxsie at Meltdown...

On Saturday night Stu, Darren, I and thousands of ageing punks went to see Siouxsie perform as part of Yoko Ono's curated Meltdown festival at the Royal Festival Hall on London's glitzy South Bank.

Resplendent in a white rubber dress, which for the encore was reduced to a plain white rubber catsuit, Siouxsie thrusted, twirled and gyrated for our pleasure.

Performing all of the album Kaleidoscope from start to finish we were then treated a selection of her back catalog. Some of the hits but not all. We had Israel and Kiss Them For Me but sadly no Spellbound, Peek-a-boo, or Hong Kong Garden though.

Last time I saw Siouxsie Sioux perform, apart from the odd open air festival or two, was at the same venue in 2004. Here is my review from back then and it pretty much held true for last Saturday night too.

I wanna Ice Queen... 
Saturday night. Royal Festival Hall. Siouxsie Sioux. Surrounded by a devoted crowd of aging skins, punks & Goths worshipping at the church of Sioux. All in black. 'Natch. Our tickets said 7:30pm. Ms Sioux arrived on stage a little after 8:20pm. At least she turned up at all! She was suitably attired in flowing silk robes with what looked likes a cockerel on her head. Like Elvira in pantaloons. The High Priestess of Punk. She did look good on it though. The diva had arrived. The show had begun. Siouxsie was in great voice. The sound was excellent too - she obviously was running a tight ship. We were treated to hits galore (who knew she had so many?). And it was all gratefully, not to say enthusiastically, received. Her fusion of jungle rhythms, Japanese drumming and eastern influenced music worked surprisingly well live - especially with a full backing orchestra. It was all quite infectious. Soon we were all up dancing. It was a great first half. Sadly the 15 minute interval actually turned out to be the 40 minute interval. Waiting again. The second half was far more sensual than the first. The Ice Queen had melted. Pulsating drums drove the erotic thrust of the set list as each song had Siouxsie bumping, grinding and gyrating for the audience. She obviously has a sexual relationship with her fans while on stage. Never more so than when seductively singing Disney's Trust In Me. The climax of the show, Second Floor, had the crowd going wild for encores. We all left happy little bunnies. Happy House, Spellbound, Cities In Dust, Peek-a-boo, Dear Prudence, Kiss The Girl, Christine - we got them all. If I wasn't a Siouxsie fan at the start I certainly was by the end. Someone should buy her a wrist watch though.





Sunday, June 16, 2013

The Name Of he Doctor...

Having just rewatched the finale of Doctor Who series 7 I have to say that it came good in the end. A brilliant Doctor Who episode that simply rocketed along. Lots of scares, thrills and spills and a suitably OMG ending. Roll on the 50th anniversary special and Christmas special.

Thursday, June 13, 2013

The Cripple of Inishmaan...

Last night Stu and I went to see The Cripple of Inishmaan at the Noel Coward Theatre in London's glitzy West End.

Starring Daniel Radcliff as 'Cripple Billy' it told the story of a disabled boy, his extended family, friends and enemies. Set in the 1930s it pulled no punches with it's un-PC language but was very funny all the same. A sort of Father Ted meets Sickipedia.

"I shouldn't laugh at you Billy.. but I will!"

Spoken in deep Irish accents it was occasionally hard to follow but always laugh out loud funny. Go see! 

Luckily there were no idiots fans in the audience stage whispering, "Dan!.. Dan!.. Dan!.. DAN!.."
 

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Wednesday, June 12, 2013

Tuesday, June 11, 2013

Monday, June 10, 2013

Hamley's...

Emma, Stu and I were reliving a bit of our childhood in Hamley's at the weekend.


Friday, June 07, 2013

Brighton...

We had a lovely time down in Brighton last weekend. We stayed at The Grand which was nice. We hooked up with Craig and Pete on the Friday night for a bit of a bar crawl and drag at The Bulldog. Then it was Bronwyn's 40th birthday party on the Saturday night at The Cricketers. Jägerbombs galore!


Wednesday, June 05, 2013

Married Life...

For those of you single folks wondering what it's like to be in a relationship...
I just found out this morning I'm on day 3 of an argument I didn't know I was having.

Tuesday, June 04, 2013

Secret Cinema...


A few weeks ago Stu and I went to the latest Secret Cinema event.

There are mild spoilers below so if you are going - read no further!

It's hard not to give the game away with these films  - but to be honest everyone I spoke to knew what it was before they had arrived. Suffice to say it was good film.

This time the event was held down in West Croydon at the old thirteen-story BT offices. The place had been done out like a make-shift Ministry of Information which we could roam about in until the film started proper.

We had become employees of the newly formed G.O.O.D. organisation where we had been assigned to the Committee for Credit Creation (Keynes Department K-4.06/F). We started our 'work' at 6:30pm prompt in our trusty grey suits. About twenty of us sat around a large meeting room table trying to come up with ways to generate wealth and sell the idea to the general public. It was fun and funny.

After that we headed up a floor to the media area where we filmed an advert with a group of other people - something about a mother, a loud-haler and her lazy kids running down for breakfast. Don't ask.

Then we just wandered about - there were masks and a party and a typewriting class and an office with a table that moved and showroom dummies and a restaurant and rooms with paper flowing out of the walls and people, lots of people. It was great fun.

The film was projected in the central atrium with the sound coming out of speakers behind us. The footage was fairly dim and so hard to see but the environment more than made up for that.

Another triumph for SC. Now if only they had sorted out the licencing so we could have had a drink...
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Monday, June 03, 2013