Rev Stan's other stuff

Get the credit card out

Haven't even had time to get really excited about seeing Ian McKellan in King Lear at Christmas when the RSC goes and dangles yet another tantalising play/actor combo before my very eyes.
I've just received advance purchase details for their 2008 summer/autumn Stratford season and not only is one of the plays going to be Hamlet - my favourite Shakespeare - but none other than David Tennant aka Barty Crouch jnr/Dr Who is taking the lead.
It will be nearly a year before I get to see such a pairing but I'm already excited about what he is going to bring to the role. My money is on quietly energetic...

One I'm gonna watch

Now Shoot em up is the type of film that I'd never usually go and see at the cinema but from what I've seen on the web it looks so cool I'm actually quite excited about it. The fact that Clive Owen looks gorgeous has absolutely nothing to do with it. Oh alright, a little, but I still think it looks cool.

Shoot 'Em Up - trailer

QotD: I'm A Completist

Do you own all the albums of any particular musical artist or group? Who?
Submitted by dutterman.

If they've only ever done one album does it count?

Art in Peterborough: what did you expect?

I grew up near the city so I feel qualified to make sweeping generalisations about the average resident of this almost-new town based on this story.  I think is says a lot that the Angel of the North has survived intact up in Newcastle.

Don't let them do it JK

This is just wrong on so many levels. It is SEVEN books for criminies sake and that's before you start making room for crap, pointless songs and dance routines.
Now the Potted Potter on the other hand, I'd pay to see that because that sounds clever and fun.

QotD: If I Had Guaranteed Success...

What would you attempt to do if you knew you could never fail? 
Submitted by BeckyPink. 

For a long time I always wanted to work in film or TV production. I can still imagine myself running around with a clip board and a walkie talkie, shouting 'quiet on set' or something like that, so I'd definitely have a stab at that.
Or if that wasn't an option I'd cash in my life savings, sell my flat and all my worldly possessions and head off to a casino...

QotD: Some Sunny Sunday

Where is your favourite place to be on a sunny Sunday afternoon? 
Submitted by Rev Stan.

The South Bank. Down by the river, with all the different street entertainers, the graffiti, the galleries, public art, theatres, cinema, restaurants, coffee shops, the Eye, the carousel, the hawkers, tat-sellers, the storm troopers advertising the Star Wars exhibition, the Dali statues, teenagers doing street running, real runners, tourists, Londoners... generally everyone young and old having a jolly time. Love it.

Bodean's is crap

Yesterday evening started off superbly. Mosh and I decided to visit an old haunt, the Prince of Wales pub. It used to be a regular spot for a wee drinkie when I lived in Clapham proper, in fact it has poignant memories as Mosh and I went there for our first drink back in the days when we were just friends.

The fabulous Prince of Wales pub

It is a small pub whose charm is the ever evolving collection of junk attached to the ceiling, walls and any other available surface.
We've not been for a while because it involves a bit of a walk and used to get stuffy with cigarette smoke. Now the fag ban has been enforced long enough for it to de-fug, it once again appeals and I'd forgotten what a characterful and pleasant drinking establishment it actually is.
Fast forward then to the chosen eatery for our evening meal: Bodean's. It is a London-based, American bbq-themed restaurant chain.
I've been to their branch in Soho with colleagues, back in the Wardour days, but wasn't eating meat then.
You'd think that a restaurant who's area of specialism is barbecued meat would actually do it quite well but, and here I must apologise to my American neighbours, it is in fact the epitome of everything that is bad about American dining.
Processed, fake and heart-attack inducing.
Even my side salad arrived greasy with dressing and smothered in cheese and croutons. I'm afraid the American-ness rubbed off and I sent it back.
The ribs appeared as if the meat had already been chewed then pressed back onto the bones in an wholly uniform and unnatural way, coated in something of which the dominant flavour was salt and then cooked in some indeterminate way so that the only barbecue flavour came from the brown ketchup-like substance that accompanied all meals.
The pulled-pork was a little better but still very salty. The coleslaw, although looking authentic, tasted like it was made with sugary mayonnaise.
Portion-sizes were obscene and the staff friendly to the level of obsequious. The themed decor was one step up from a McDonald's and I really can't see what all the fuss it about.
I've had much better ribs, in far more pleasant surroundings, at a much cheaper price.

Mechants singes

This is why I want a monkey. Just think what you could do with a gang of 'em on Oxford Street....

Vox Hunt: Foreign Born

Show us something you own that is from a different country.
Submitted by Rev Stan.

These are my beautiful Apsara from Siem Reap in Cambodia. They are celestial dancers from the Hindu story about the churning of the sea of milk. I fell in love with them while visiting a school that teaches children from very poor, rural backgrounds traditional crafts so they can earn a living. The depict such elegant energy.
I resisted their charms but never forgot them. Luckily neither did Mosh and he bought me them for my birthday and had them shipped over.

(6-2 AKA Vasquez)

Why you shouldn't believe everything in the press

Not that I do, I'm a journalist after all.
Last weekend I got talking to a freelance journalist at a dinner party who has worked on the tabloids including a stint doing film reviews.
As an avid watcher of films I was fascinated by this and probably bombarded them with more questions than good etiquette would suggest.
Several interesting titbits of info came to light though.
The fact that some 'celebrity' reviewers from other publications got one of the office monkey's to go and watch the film and write up the review isn't surprising. Neither is the fact that reviews had to be tailored to the readership. Basically for this tabloid action movies all had to have high star ratings and if it was a remotely high-brow film or had subtitles then forget it.
However, when it came to films made by the newspaper's parent company the journalist was made to add stars to reviews if the original rating wasn't deemed high enough. Considering this company is a conglomerate with fingers in so many different media pies it does make you wonder how far this sort of interfering stretches. Would the same policy apply for the company's broadsheet papers for instance?
I've always believed reviews in the 'qualities' carry more weight but how can you be really sure that they are impartial?
And if one company is doing it, you can bet other companies are too. It is not enough, or financially viable, to be merely in the business of newspapers. Now there are films production companies, TV production companies, record labels, ISP's, radio stations, music festivals, mobile phones etc etc all from the same stables.
Obviously if someone wants to pay me to sit in a comfy private screening room two or three times a week, with a glass of wine, I'd write whatever they bloomin' wanted.

QotD: Drivin' & Talkin'

Should driving while talking on a cell phone be outlawed? 
Submitted by Soup.  

It is in the UK unless you've got a hands-free kit. And, as a cycling commuter in London, I think they should outlaw hands-free too.

(BTW nice QOTD Soup)

I want to see the out takes

Elijah Wood on Yo Gabba Gabba

Based on the 'crazy' dancing at the end I'd say those Frodo and Pippin rumours are true.

This one is for Nadia, sort of

Because I know she appreciates the, er, talent that is Mr Johnny Depp...

New musical discovery

For their name alone you gotta love 'em but they have quite a catchy sound too. They cite their influences as Wolverine, Dr Octopus and Baba the little elephant. Enough said.

The Brian Jacket Letdown- "Eat Your Friends"

More tunes at their Myspace

Bourne Ultimatum

Fast-paced, edge-of-your-seat, tense, action thriller that will put a smile on your face. It is cooler than a penguin's tootsies in winter. Go see it.

Thebourneultimatum

Fab art

My knowledge of art isn't great so I approach it from the point of view:  does it provoke a response from me, do I like it or do I appreciate it?.
Antony Gormley's Blind Light at the Hayward Gallery is a yes, yes and yes. Why? Because it is imaginative, clever and I could appreciate the work, the thought and craft that had gone into it. And it certainly provoked a response.

Blind Light by Antony Gormley. Photograph by Stephen White

The title piece Blind Light is a perspex box filled with dense fog. You only have to go inside a few feet to lose sight of everything around you and all perspective. Sound is muffled and the density of the air feels slightly suffocating. It is extremely disorientating and had the same physical effect as heights have on me. I only stayed in for a minute both times and didn't stray far from the entrance as the fear of not finding my way out was too strong. If I'd gone in with someone I may have been a bit braver.
Gormley takes the body as the central theme and has taken many casts of his own body. Indeed he must have spent a rather strange amount of time covered in cling film...
One room exhibits a piece called Allotment II which is a series of 300 concrete boxes each modeled on a the same group of measurements taken from 300

Picture of Allotment II exhibited in Malmoa, picture from antonygormley.com

volunteers of all ages. There is a box for the body which has a hole for the genitals and another for the anus and a smaller box for the head with a hole for the mouth and two holes for the ears.
There were a lot of kids at the exhibition. I'm not sure what they take from it but I saw two boys running around Allotment II trying to find the concrete boxes that best matched their size, getting right up close to make sure all the holes matched.
Then there was Mother's Pride. Quite literally a wall of slices of Mother's Pride bread  with the shape of a human, laying in an almost foetal position, 'bitten' out of the middle.
There are lots of pictures and details about his work at his excellent website

Mother's Pride by Antony Gormley, picture from antonygormley.com

Stratford first or 'oh how my life has changed'

Despite years of studying Shakespeare at school, college and Uni I'd never been to Stratford upon Avon until yesterday. It is quite picturesque, as you'd imagine, but seeing a play was the primary reason for the visit.
I went with my best friend Jen.
We first became friends 20 years ago as we were in the same A-level English class, united by the brilliant, yet formidable old spinster that was our teacher Miss Egan.
The last time we went away together was when we were 21, Jen was still at Cambridge and I was working in my first job in London earning peanuts. We went to Amsterdam on a very cheap, overnight coach and stayed in a grubby, shared room of a hostel in the red light district. We did go to a gallery, I think, but spent pretty much the whole time off our faces.
Fast forward to yesterday when we stayed in a pricey little hotel in a beautiful Cotswold's village, drank champagne and nice wine over dinner and went to see an RSC production of Richard II.
The play itself was superb. Helped by the fact the the costume was predominantly, and refreshingly, 16th-century in style and influence and the fact that it was Stratford, the production had an air of authenticity about that I've never felt before watching Shakespeare.

Jonathan Slinger as Richard II

The director captured the pomp and ceremony of the Royal Court so beloved by King Richard from the start, dressing him in fine, light clothing which would starkly contrast with Bolingbroke's more informal and yet dark and quietly powerful appearance and persona.
Richard was played imaginatively and flawlessly by Jonathan Slinger with a slightly effeminate manner emphasising his vacilating and egocentric nature by quickly switching his tone from quiet contemplation to spitting rants and dismissive asides.
It is a play about the deposing of a King deemed by some ineffectual, misguided and weak. In history, or so I learnt yesterday, Richard was the last of England's undisputed monarchs and Bolingbroke seizing the throne was to set the country on a 200 year path of civil discontent and war. The issue of who has the right to be king is central to the theme.
There was some excellent staging with the Bolingbroke and Mowbray's duel played out on saddles mounted on frames and hung from the gods so that the actors could swing towards each other, lances in hand. Richard's post deposition soliloquy was spoken from beneath a stream of sand that was eerily lit. And his brutal stabbing made explicit by the slowly forming pool of blood from beneath his white-clothed body. The mess remained on stage through the final scene as a reminder to Bolingbroke of the price he'd had to pay for the crown.
Jen and I loved it and have vowed to make Stratford and annual event. And I'm sure Miss Egan would approve.

 

Music from the archive

Since I got my new all singing, all dancing, mega-memory iPod (and sorted out the problem with loading on my iTunes library) I've been trying to hoover up all the stragglers in my CD collection that haven't yet been digitised.
In doing so I've been coming across some little gems I'd forgotten I had and this by Massive Attack is one of them.
My brother Derren introduced me to the band so thanks go to him. The track is from Protection, which is one of my mellow, winding down albums of choice.  Of course I love the title track but Three has to be my favourite. It is it's haunting sound yet clarity of the vocal together with the soft yet intense beat that make it for me. Best listened to at night, preferably in the dark or on headphones:

03 Three

Massive Attack

Adult reading

The QoTD reminded me that I have actually read some adult books in recent weeks in between Potter-fixes.
First up was Brideshead Revisted by Evelyn Waugh. It is the first of his novels I've ever read and so stunningly rich in

Brideshead Revisited: The Sacred and Profane Memories of Captain

Evelyn Waugh

language it made me feel ashamed that I never listened to my school English teacher who repeatedly told me to read a broadsheet newspaper to widen my vocabulary.
Full of vibrant and amusing characters, on the surface it tells the story of the decline of the English aristocracy between the world wars but underneath it is about so much more: friendship, religion, love, purpose...
It's definitely one I'll be reading again as it's impossible to take it all in.
I'm currently working my way through the 1980s TV series which was made with the sort of indulgence that TV production companies can now only dream of (11 episodes for one slim book!).
A film version of the book is due out next year.
I've also returned to a favourite author of mine, Kate Atkinson. Just love her lively writing style which always has the element of the surreal to it. She creates the most amazing characters each of which has their own element of eccentricity.

Human Croquet

Kate Atkinson

Human Croquet is about two children abandoned by their parents and brought up by an indifferent aunt.
Obsessed with the return of their mother, their father's reappearance several years later with a new wife does nothing to stifle their curiousity about her whereabouts and their longing for the life they had with her.
Atkinson manages to expertly blend humour and tradegy with just a little bit of the extraordinary.

Vox Hunt: This One's For The Kids

Books:  Show us a great children's book.

Five Go to Smuggler's Top (Famous Five Centenary Editions)

Enid Blyton

It was my favourite out of all the Famous Five books. I wanted to be George.

Karaoke fan with taste?

Mosh sent me this story from NME as he thought I'd find it funny. I did but, I suspect, not as funny as he did being a firm hater of Coldplay. Perhaps it should be a QoTD: 'Singing which song at karaoke should always result in physical violence towards the singer?'

A Coldplay fan has been beaten up following their rendition of 'Yellow' in a karaoke bar.
The incident took place in Seattle on Thursday (August 9) at Changes.
As the unnamed man took the stage to sing the song, a woman reportedly declared: "Oh no, not that song. I can't stand that song!"
She then leaped at the would-be singer, shouted expletives at him and told him his singing "sucked", while expressing the same opinion of the song, according to a Seattle police report.
She pushed the man and punched him, all in an effort to stop his singing.
Other patrons went to the singer's aid and hauled the 21-year-old woman outside.
Robert Willmette one the barmen at Changes said: "It took three or four of us to hold her down."
According to the barman, the woman "went crazy" when she got outside, punching him twice in the face.
The police were called and blocked the whole street off.
The officers took the woman, whom Willmette described as "a little hippie girl", to the ground.
She assaulted the police officer and was booked into the King County Jail for investigation of assault, reports Seattle P.I paper.

I'm off to Denmark...

...to work after reading this on the BBC today. To summarise, us Brits have the least amount of paid holiday in Europe. Although to be fair to the company I work for, we already get the minimum that will become regulation in 2009.

Film first

Went to an IMAX for the first time today to see Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix with Nadia and J. Not only is it an incredible experience watching the film on such a huuuuge screen with the amazing surround sound but the big battle at the end is in 3D which certainly has the wow-factor.
We were given a taste of things to come as the trailers were all in 3D and I confess I squealed like a young kid when I thought a shark was swimming straight towards me.
I have a thing about sharks OK.
When watching the 3D segment, it is so effective I had a strong urge to reach out and touch the characters as they appeared so close.
Great cinema, great experience and of course a great film. Shame everyone looks comic in the glasses.

Plymouth

There are times I'm so glad I do what I do for a living. Last week I spent a couple of days visiting far flung corners of England to brain storm ideas for a forthcoming series of features.
The weather helped of course but the the train journey from Exeter to Plymouth is amazing. The train track hugs the coast for a while before heading inland through beautiful Devon countryside.

Plymouth itself is a mish-mash of beautiful old cobbled streets and buildings that have survived through it's long naval-city history and awful mid-20th Century architecture owing to the fact that it was bombed to buggery during the second world war.
My first meeting was over looking Sutton Harbour and with views like this you can't complain.

After a swin and dinner in a fab little Japanese restaurant I decided to take a stroll around the city's waterfront (including Sutton above). The sun was starting to go down.

Plymouth harbour

There was a small fun fair on the top of the Hoe and this would have been a fab shot if only I'd caught the word 'buzin' fully lit up.

Funfair in Plymouth

The next day I caught the train up to Bristol and was treated to a boat trip around the city's centre so I could get a feel for the development going on. The weather was gorgeous, the views stunning, the trip informative and it beat being sat back in the office staring at a computer screen. Didn't take any pictures - well I was technically in a meeting.
And to top it all I've got a bag of feature ideas to take back to the office on Monday morning.

More pics at flickr

QotD: Trading Places

Who would you like to trade places with for one day and why? 
Submitted by Nathalie.

Anyone who is working on the set of the new Harry Potter film, when it is in production of course.
Why? Because I'm fascinated by the whole film production process and I love Harry Potter - it would be amazing to experience.

Old people stealing stuff

Stayed in the Holiday Inn in Plymouth* for work on Thursday night. The Holiday Inn is good because it's in an amazing spot with great views from the room and breakfast room but otherwise suffers from nice-sized-rooms but a bit dated decor and generally in need of a refurb.
Being holiday season the hotel was packed with families and OAP's on coach tours. And I didn't quite understand the notice in the breakfast room which said:
    If you wish to take food outside the restaurant please let staff know so that it may be wrapped up and your bill            adjusted appropriately
Or something similar.
Doggy-bags not being the Brit way I was bemused about this request until I witnessed septugenerian Carole and her husband/lover/friend who were on the table next to mine and sounded like they hailed from Australia (they were part of a coach tour and wore name badges)  stuffing pastries and croissants into pre-prepared plastic bags and placing them into her roomy handbag.
It didn't stop there.
Carole's husband/lover/friend collected four apples in a bowl which she also smuggled into her hand bag.
Is it any wonder the Holiday Inn has such notices in the breakfast room when you have a coach load of guests like Carole and her partner in crime.
* Pictures to come.

QotD: My Musical Influence

Which friend or acquaintance most influenced your taste in music? 
Submitted by Rev Stan.

My Dad worked with a guy called Mick who was a lot younger than him but they became friends and together with his wife Rose they probably set me on the musical path away from my first love of Duran Duran to more guitar-based music when I was a teenager. They got me into REM before they hit the big time.
They also took me to my first gig: The Cult at the de Montfort Hall in Leicester.
And I can't omit Mosh! because since then he has introduced me to numerous bands not least of which is Muse, Skunk Anansie, Led Zepplin, Jimmi Hendrix, The Doors, Metallica... the list could go on and on.

(Five QoTD/Vox Hunts - not that I'm counting) 

Classic theatre

Took a trip to the National Theatre yesterday to see Tennessee Williams's The Rose Tattoo. I studied A Street Car

Rose1

Named Desire as part of my degree and as consequence watched the film version of A Cat on Hot Tin Roof and read A Glass Menagerie so am reasonable familiar with Williams's work and was very much looking forward to an entertaining evening.
As a sickly child Williams spent a lot of time being nursed by female relatives and this has obviously influenced his writing and the female characters in many of his. Women often dominate the story lines and the Rose Tattoo is no exception.
Zoe Wanamaker plays the lead, Serafina Della Rosa an Italian immigrant living in the deep south. Losing her beloved husband in a road accident she struggles with widowhood, wallowing in her grief and worshipping the memory of her Rosario, while reluctant to allow her maturing daughter to go out and experience love for herself.
The discovery of Rosario's infidelity understandably rocks her world further but ultimately unlocks the door so she can finally move on.
There is much humour and warmth in this play and ultimately it is about love.

Wanamaker plays the passionate, exuberant and over-dramatic Italian matriarch with aplomb. In fact it was a joy to watch such a professional and accomplished performance. She must have given it her all because she looked visibly exhausted at the curtain call.
Praise must also go to new-comer Susannah Fielding making her West End debut as daughter Rosa.
Overall a thoroughly entertaining and engaging evening.
And I must just comment on the NT. Prince Charles described the complex as a carbuncle but I'm growing to love it and certainly it's Olivier Theatre (I haven't been to performances at the other two within the complex) is well-designed with a large performance space, comfortable and spacious seating. Although charming, London's older theatres seem pokey and claustrophobic by contrast. 

I want to be friends with Peter Jackson

Found this story today an extract of which is below:

The revered British actor, who played the wise wizard Gandalf in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, is in New Zealand with

Bag End - the hobbit size set

Bag End in Hobbiton

the Royal Shakespeare Company to play the title role in King Lear.
He intends to catch up with old friends while in Wellington, and Peter Jackson has invited him to stay at his home in Wairarapa.
"He kept the set of Bag End, which was Frodo's house, and set it up for guests with running water, so I'm going to spend the night there," Sir Ian said yesterday.
"It'll be the one the hobbits were in which made them look small, so it'll be big enough for humans."

Can I stay please?

I'd prefer Slytherin...

But despite appearances, it's not really me. Gryffindor will do though, anything but Hufflepuff

Which Hogwarts house will you be sorted into?

PS: Am very proud, this is the first thing I've embeded. And thanks to Aput who first posted the quiz

Vox Hunt: This Makes Me Cross!

Show us something that makes you cross.
Submitted by Rev Stan.

Cigarette butts - no!

It's not smokers or smoking, although I'd rather they didn't, its the butts. Everywhere. And the fact that most smokers happily discard them without a second thought to the fact that they are litter. Many, I am sure think that because it's just a little butt, it is acceptable. It isn't. It is an unnecessary and unsightly mess and disrespectful. They wouldn't ground the remnants of a smoked fag into their own kitchen floor so why do it outside other people's place of work or homes or high street...
People who drop litter make me cross too and in particular chewing gum - nobody likes gum stuck to the bottom of their shoe or worse on their clothes.
I'm taking deep breaths. I am calm.

(Come on Vox it's getting embarrassing now, four QoTD's/Vox hunts, Vasquez is never going to catch up.)

Vintage QotD: My Life Is Taggable

What are the 5 words that best describe your life right now?
Submitted by mojito.  

Stop voxing, get to work.

Squash skills

Well it's been over a year now since Mosh started teaching me to play squash. Mosh swore a couple of times today when he missed shots, so progress has definitely been made.
We don't play with any degree of regularity and I won't play a full blown game yet because the prospect of being soundly thrashed would be too demoralising.
I can get my trainers to make that squeaking noise when I run around but flicking the ball up with the edge of the racket so I don't have to bend down to pick it up needs work.
Mosh still flinches whenever I'm at the back of the court returning the ball and he's at the front. I've only hit him four or five times, OK, so there was one occasion when I hit him twice in as many shots and he got suspicious that it wasn't accidental. Squash balls make impressive bruises.
I've also perfected the art of looking quizzically at the strings on the racket when I miss a shot but still manage to hit myself instead of the ball every now and again.
Occasionally, just occasionally, I feel like I'm making Mosh run around after the ball rather than the other way around. I hope that is the case.

Vox Hunt: My Best Pet Photo

Show us your best pet photo. 
Submitted by 8gurl. 

Because you know you want one, your mates would be jealous and you could teach it all sorts of stuff...

Wickle baby macaque monkey

Professor Umbridge is alive and well

And living in Somerset. Evil woman.

Where's Gormley?

Several voxers have already posted about the work of artist Antony Gormley including AKA Vasquez so I apologise for arriving unfashionably late at the party.
These sculptures are decorating the roof tops and pavements around the South Bank as part of his Blind Light exhibition. Supposedly based on his own body, they have become such a feature of my journey to work that I have grown quite fond of them.
Some observers are obviously more moved than others by this art, choosing to respond in their own unique way. For example, it is not unusual to see parts of the sculpture, and you don't need to guess which parts, spray painted or words such as 'cock' written across the torso. Then there is the dressing up and the condom tied on with ribbon. None lasts more than a day leaving the sculptures a 'blank canvas' once again.
I wonder what Gormley's reaction would be?
The exhibition is only on for another couple of weeks and it will be a sad day when the sculptures are taken down. Perhaps I should start a campaign similar to the one initiated at Crosby Sands.

Antony Gormley - Blind Light

Antony Gormley - Blind Light

Antony Gormley - Blind Light

Antony Gormley - Blind Light

QotD: My Strongest Summer Memory

What will you remember most about this summer?

The shit weather and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. If my numbers come up before the end of August then I think that will replace these two things.