Take Pride

Yesterday I was involved in London's Pride march, which this year had the theme, 'Come Out To Play'. CSRA, the cross-Departmental LGBT staff network, decided to go with a circus theme and so yesterday found me on the CSRA float, dressed as a clown...

I took the camera with me, and got some amazing pictures (although you won't find any of me here thank god!) - as you can see, people really push the boat out for Pride!




(what is this guy on??)

And some shots of the thronging crowds :)




And, finally, the photo I've submitted to Digital Photography School's weekly competition, which this week is black and white portraits - I shot this chap hanging onto a lampost as our float came down Regents St.



You can find another 120 (!) pictures of the day here

Moonlight

If you've been following the blog recently, you'll know that I've recently improved my camera equipment. In the last few days I've acquired a few more bits and pieces, including a Pentax 55-300mm telephoto zoom lens and a good quality Manfrotto tripod. As a consequence, I've been able to take this shot from our yard - try this with a point-and-shoot, I dare you :)

Better Than Danny

Last night we went to a free gig at the Forum in Kentish Town to promote La Roux.

A friend expressed surprise that I'd go to see a band that were so 'mainstream', and I responded by saying that would be true, but only if you looked at a recent newspaper and it said 1981 up in the top corner! I'll explain - La Roux, made up of Elly Jackson (the daughter of the actress who plays June Ackland in the Bill would you believe) and Ben Langmaid, have a particular and distinctive early eighties take on pop. At the gig, Langmaid played one of those old electronic drumkits and, with the help of two other synth players, conjured up a series of catchy tunes that frankly wouldn't have been out of place as hits for Yazoo, Blancmange or even the Eurythmics. Jackson's severe white jacket and equally severe hair helped to cement the illusion that we were back in the early days of Thatcher and Reagan. That's not to say that La Roux are derivative though - you couldn't mistake them for anyone else because Jackson's vocals are pretty unique - she has a thin and very high-pitched voice which is quite unusual but not at all unsuited to the band's material.

The new album, La Roux has all of the recent single tracks on it and I rather like it. They are at number three in the singles charts with "Bulletproof" right now (drop it down two octaves and you could be listening to Vince Clarke and Alison Moyet, have a listen, you'll see what I mean) - and I don't think that you could say that about anything else that's in my recent record collection!

Secret Places

Setting off from work last night with my camera, and choosing an entirely new direction, I got some surprises. I never knew that Victoria was so close to the exclusive environs of Eaton Place - home to many embassies and huge townhouses. It's unfortunate that all the squares in the area are private "residents only" affairs, because there were some beautifully exotic plants poking out through the railings that I wish I could have seen in all the glory, rather than just their raggedy backsides :\






Oh and here's a funny sight from a Catholic School near Victoria - if you listen very closely you can just hear the kids shouting "Jesus, can we have our ball back?"

From Around Eaton Place June 2009

Goodbye London!

Nope, sorry to burst your bubble, I'm not going anywhere ;)

"Goodbye London" is the title of a delightful new song by Luke Jackson, with accompanying graphics and direction by Murray John, that's doing the rounds on YouTube at the moment. It's lovely - really joyful and sad at the same time, and watching it I can't help but reminisce about the couple of years I spent in the heart of Camden Town when I first moved to London all those years ago. Unlike Transformers (which lets be honest is two and a half hours of your life that you won't get back) this is an uplifting three minutes that's well worth your while, particularly if you like your rock a teeny bit grungy. Oh god, there are tears in my eyes now - where did I put that hanky?



EDIT - Correct YouTube video now linked to - oops!

By the way the new album, 'And Then Some', also sounds rather good, but I can't seem to find anywhere to buy a physical CD in the UK, although it is available as always on iTunes. Hopefully there'll be an opportunity to see him play live soon - if I manage to get along you know where to come for my thoughts :)

Weekend Sightseeing

This weekend was another quiet one for me (the coming one won't be!) but I did find myself down in Soho and over by the river towards the end of the week, and in Bethnal Green at the weekend, so I thought you might enjoy sharing some of the sights with me.

From Soho June 2009

From On The River June 2009

From Museum Gardens June 2009

Hot Metal Sequel

We went to the cinema tonight and decided on Transformers - Revenge of the Fallen, and I find it difficult to hide my dissapointment - well sort of...

The film has more holes than plot - many of the things that take place in the movie have origins you can only guess at, and there are miles and miles of exposition (didn't they teach Michael Bay about "show don't tell" in film school?). Unfortunately that stretches the film out - a story they could have told in an hour and a half runs to two and half hours. I'm sure it goes down well with twelve year old boys due to the constant pouting of co-star Megan Fox, but it's not really up to the standards of a more mature audience. To add insult to injury they even have two characters, The Twins, who are a convincing stand in for Jar Jar Binks, dialogue included...

So I can't recommend this film... except for one caveat. If you're into huge robots (one of them with two big, swinging wrecking balls for... well you get the idea!) or you're a petrolhead of some description (because there are transforming motorbikes, sportscars, hot hatches, trucks, cranes, fighter aircraft - the list goes on) and if you can suspend disbelief for long enough, you will absolutely love it. The CGI is utterly breathtaking - not one frame looks "computer generated", it all looks convincing - realistically gritty. Rumour has it that the computers were working so hard to render the scenes in the movie that a section of ILM's server farm burnt out during the process!

If you're looking for an intelligent movie you really will have to look elsewhere, but for the smell of hot metal and the crackling sound of gunfire and the thunder of huge explosions, I don't think that this movie will be beaten this summer :)

East End MP Consorts With Timelord - Shocker!

Ah, I had you there for a moment :)

I was just curious to see how my local MP, Lyn Brown, who represents West Ham, had fared in the expenses row, and so I used the useful online tool at the BBC. All you have to do is enter your postcode and it will take you to a new page listing the scans of the receipts claimed for by your MP, which you can then download and read in something like Adobe Reader.

I haven't discovered anything earth-shattering (nor had I expected too) but there is something a bit strange going on in relation to my local council. If you look at page 3 of the "Incidental Expenses Provision/Staff Allowance 2007-08" document, you'll discover that Lyn hired something rather unique for an event. Colour me surprised that the Doctor's principle mode of transport is actually owned by the London Borough of Newham and that they hire it out for events :)

Green Park

On the way home from work earlier this evening I decided to walk through Green Park as the weather was so lovely - it's a nice space that leads up to Piccadilly and the Ritz hotel on one corner, but it does get pretty crowded. Give me the wide open and empty spaces I found at the weekend any day... I even got a gratuitous shot of the Grenadiers guarding Buckingham Palace for the tourist visitors to the blog, so enjoy! ;)

From Green Park June 2009

For Rose

It's a special person's birthday today, and as I was out in our large backyard to take a picture for Digital Photography School's current assignment, "Chair", I thought I'd photograph a few flowers to mark the occasion...





Oh, and here's the chair I photographed for the assignment - the mower needs to come out I think!

From In The Garden June 2009

Wild in Wanstead

Earlier today I went for a walk around Wanstead Flats Park, at the southern most tip of Epping Forest. It's a big space, about the same size as Regents Park, but far less manicured, as most of it is given over to scrub and woodland, and there are a series of lakes and ponds too, which are home to lots of local wildlife. Until the BSE crisis cattle were allowed to forage across it freely, but these days it's a strangely quiet place - as you'll see from the photographs it was virtually empty even though I was there in the early afternoon... lots of waterfowl though :)

From Wanstead June 2009

Psychoville

On Thursday evening a new comedy series from two of the creators of the League of Gentlemen, Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton was launched, Psychoville. This isn't a sketch show - it follows events centred around five individuals who have all received identical notes with a mysterious message. As you'd expect, the first episode is deeply disturbing in places and features dark characters clearly drawn from Shearsmith and Pemberton's darkest nightmares. It's all great fun, if a little near the knuckle at times, but I do get the impression that Mr Jelly the clown "with a hook for a hand" was intended as a League of Gentlemen character that just didn't make the grade. Mind you, sinister serial killer fan David, who lives in a Wood Green tower block with his disturbing mother makes up for that shortcoming. Dawn French's mad midwife is rather good too.

As with most BBC drama series, Psychoville has its own website but this one goes further than most and has uniquely interactive elements. In addition to being able to send specially tailored videos to your friends, you can explore the mystery yourself by responding to emails from a mysterious stranger. A whole raft of fake websites have been set up to help you along, and if you've tried to answer the first question posed by the stranger and you're not having much success, I suggest that you head for the image gallery and look carefully at the theatre poster... a few more steps and you'll have the answer you're seeking...

Oh I Do Like To Be Beside The Seaside!

To round out our visit to the southwest we spent the afternoon in Weston Super Mare yesterday. The setting for many of my childhood holidays, this place is timeless (well apart from the fact that the pier has burnt down!) - it's still full of kiss-me-quick hats, cafes and candy floss. On a really hot day like yesterday it's the perfect place to be.






To add to my enjoyment (and interest in all big, shiny metal things with engines) we had the opportunity to have a good look around the speedboats which had been taking part in races earlier in the day, and what a colourful bunch they were :)

From Weston Super Mare June 2009

A Suspension of Disbelief

Yesterday we travelled just out of Bristol city centre up the steep hill to Clifton, home to a charming little village and the Clifton suspension bridge, one of Brunel's engineering feats. Completed in 1864, I'm sure its as spectacular a sight as it was then, majestically spanning the Avon Gorge. It's breathtaking...





While we were up on the hill over the gorge, we also took a look at the sadly semi-derelict observatory and camera obscura - the City Council definitely needs to spend some money to renovate this building before it decides to collapse!

From Clifton June 2009

Aching Teeth

To fill up the weekend, I picked up some tickets to go to a gig while D and I were in Bristol - Teeth Mountain performing at the Cube Microplex.



It took us ages to find this strange little venue - half lecture theatre-half garden shed, we finally discovered it halfway up the hill towards the University in the shadow of two 1960s tower blocks.

I'm normally pretty good at selecting decent bands to watch, but tonight was a bit of a mixed bag. The support artist took to the stage on his own and, using found sounds and loops, delivered a couple of multi-layered, quite rocky songs. Unfortunately I didn't catch the name he performs under - a great shame because I'm sure his recorded material is pretty impressive stuff given what he manages live.



Unfortunately for us we were expecting things to get even more interesting when the main act, Teeth Mountain took the stage. However what was billed as cutting edge experimental music with tribal overtones was nothing of the sort. Whilst the two drummers at the back expertly built increasingly complex and hypnotic rhythms, the rest of the group had clearly decided that they were going to do whatever the hell they wanted, whether it made any sense or not. Random snatches of notes, barely in tune, came from the sax player and guitarist and after a while, well, we'd had enough - I'd expected some sort of structure to their pieces but this was like watching a bunch of self-indulgent three year olds playing in a sand pit...



Well at least it was nice and cool outside by the time we left the venue. A disappointing night

Revisiting The Past

I'm spending this weekend in Bristol, down in the southwest of England.




I lived in the city for a year a long, long time ago, and it was interesting visiting it again as a tourist. The city centre has changed a lot - clearly it's benefited from the regeneration money that's being flowing into British cities in recent years. The place is transformed from how I remember it - lots of new buildings have gone up, and the area around the docks is even more developed than it was back in the early 90s - ExploreAtBristol is particularly impressive.




I also saw parts of the city that I never came across back then - I guess I wasn't much of an explorer in those days. It really is an attractive place - you should visit :)

From Bristol June 2009

And before I forget, for the edgy arts fans out there, there's a new rather subversive exhibition by Banksy, who hails from the city. It just opened today at the City Museum and Art Gallery, and has come as a complete surprise to everyone, as details were only revealed to staff from the Council yesterday. I saw the local news coverage but when we passed by today the crowds were just too long for us to visit - we'd have been queuing all day!

The Journey Home

With the tube strikes continuing last night (and even though things had calmed down a little by Thursday evening - most services were running) we decided on a novel route home, which involved a bus to Embankment, the Thames Clipper to Canary Wharf and the DLR from there.

I took a couple of photos of the journey - one or two of them pretty interesting...

From The Journey Home June 2009

Practice Makes, Well, A Bit Better

I just thought I'd share some of the photographs I've taken over the last day or two, as I think my technique is improving a bit. I hope you like them :)

From Inns of Court June 2009

From Borough June 2009

From West Ham Park June 2009

You're Terminated!

Last night I went to see the new Terminator movie, Terminator Salvation, starring Christian Bale, who plays the hero John Connor who, according to the previous movies, will be the saviour of mankind in the future.

To be honest, if thats the case, then I don't hold out much hope. Bale's performance was completely flat, and whilst that's fine for Batman you wanted someone with a bit more fire for this role. Worse than that, the dialogue is extremely forgettable and the film drags along for the most part, with the long slow sections occasionally interrupted by frantic bursts of action, including at one point a *very* poorly CGI'd Arnie.

Ah well, at least I can say that I've seen it - I'm pinning my hopes on Moon for an exciting summer movie, which I'll be seeing in the next week or so.

Controversial Conversations

I've hesitated to post about this, because I'm concerned that some people might find it quite offensive - personally I find it eye-opening...

As you may know, the BBC website has a 'Have Your Say' section that asks ordinary people to set out their views on the issues of the day, but that's not what I'm going to talk about. There's another site, called 'Speak You're Branes' that gathers together the most hateful, rabid comments made by the general public and then, well, proceeds to put the people posting these messages to rights (to say the least). Be warned, though the site is not for the faint-hearted - there are some genuinely unpleasant people out there... and teh language on the site is extremely strong at times - you have been warned!

The Slightly Shorter Walk Home

Which tonight was through St James Park - I'm using my new camera at every possible opportunity and I'm slowly getting used to it. Fortunately there are lots of living creatures and plants to point at :) I hope you enjoy these photographs

From St James Park June 2009

The Long Walk Home

I've said it before and I'll say it again, I'm so lucky to work almost in the centre of London. I wandered from Victoria after work, across Parliament Square and up Whitehall to Trafalgar Square and I always have to remind myself not to be complacent about the interesting sights, old and new, you can take in on a stroll... they're not to be taken for granted! Having my new camera has made this so much more fun too :)

A Photographic Weekend

On Friday I bought myself a new digital SLR - a Pentax Km - and proceeded to take it to a few parties on Saturday, and over to Greenwich with D today. I think these are the best of the shots - these things are complicated! It's going to take a good while before I'm confident with it :)

From Emily's Birthday BBQ

From Lisa's Birthday Party

From Greenwich May 2009

You're Missing a Button...

I had the bizarre experience of watching Sam Raimi's (of Evil Dead, and more recently the Spiderman series, fame) new film, 'Drag Me To Hell' tonight. As this was a preview event, the teller pressed an old coat button into each of our hands as she handed us our tickets... and soon we were to find out why...

This being billed as a horror film, I was expecting a gore-fest a la Hostel and similar films that seem to represent the genre these days, but we didn't get any blood (other than an embarrasing nosebleed incident). What we did get, in this film that centres around the consequences of a old Gypsy's curse, were lots and lots of extremely yucky moments involving many other bodily fluids. The movie was a real 'ghost train' experience - the entire audience were screaming, squirming and laughing together as the film lurched from one bizarre scene to the next. It's not Shakespeare by any means, but we had a hell of a time tonight.

Strangely enough, on checking Rotten Tomatoes it seems like the critics agree once again - another 95% positive score on the site. Now where did I put that button...

Nibbling Around The Edges

Other than Saturday it's been a pretty quiet bank holiday weekend for me, but I did take a walk with a friend this afternoon, starting at Liverpool St and skirting around the boundary of the City of London. We took in Bunhill Fields Cemetary (which is the final resting place of John Bunyan and William Blake as it happens) and the rather pungent Smithfield Market. Nothing particularly exciting to report but we did come across a few interesting things, which you can find in the photo album here. Here's a small selection...

Enfield Pageant of Motoring 2009

Today I went to the Enfield Pageant of Motoring on the Great Cambridge Road as a guest of the Viva Drivers' Club. It's one of the early classic car rallies, that run all the way through to the early autumn. Hopefully I'm going to be able to get to the huge Northampton event later in the year.

Today was the perfect day to be outside, and the sun beat down as we wandered amongst the groups of classic cars gathered for the event. As well as the usual suspects, the Minis, the Wolseys, Ferraris and the like, we also saw lots of military vehicles great and small, fire trucks (including a tender from the local Enfield Fire Station), a Delorean (of Back To The Future fame), the General Lee, and even a genuine pink cadillac. Another new display I'd not seen at previous rallies was a group of taxi cabs dating back all the way to the 1920s, with luggage onboard, as if the passengers had just stepped out - very nostalgic






There was a old-fashioned funfair too, and about an acre of stalls selling everything from rusty old car parts to dusty LPs, by way of hot pork sandwiches and chips. An interesting mix!



The centre of the park was given over to an arena where we saw an excellent motorbike display and a line of vehicles from the birth of motoring up to the 1950s (including a Routemaster on the number 8 route that had taken a bit of a detour!). All in all I had a great day, although I am a bit sunburned, and I was a bit dissapointed by the empty stands we saw here and there - hopefully all the classic car owners are keeping their powder dry until later in the bank holiday :)




And finally a quick hello to Ruby, the 2-door 1977 Viva GLS who got us there with no trouble at all (and of course not to forget the absolute mass of photos of the day, which you can find here)

Spies and Spycatchers

Yesterday afternoon we went on one of the London Walks - we chose the 'Spies and Spycatchers' walk and arrived at Piccadilly Circus having been instructed to keep our eyes open for a man wearing a black hat and sporting a green carnation. After a short wait a very dapper looking gentleman appeared, our guide for the day, Spymaster Alan (who also happens to be chief researcher for the Oscar Wilde Society)



What followed was a two hour walk, taking in the war-time headquarters of the various secret services and the meeting places of some of the most notorious agents and double-agents in British spying history. Even Ian Fleming's fictitious 'Bond, James Bond' got a look in from time to time, as did the logo of Steve Job's rather successful computer company...

From Spys & Spying May 2009

Alan was a great raconteur and had lots of tales to tell - the tour cost £7 but was really good value for money - you wouldn't even get through the door of a West End cinema for that amount these days... we had great fun!

Shh! It's An Official Secret...

This week has been all new venues for me. Last night a couple of us went down to the Luminaire on Kilburn High Road to see Official Secrets Act play.

I've just discovered these guys courtesy of S and they're pretty amazing - the lead singer gave a frantic, almost manic performance and the music really bounceed along. In style you could make a fair comparison with The Feeling, but in contrast Official Secrets Act's lyrics are very dark and brooding. With that and the rest of the colourful band (the bass player sporting Adam Ant-style facial stripes) they had the audience in the palm of their hand throughout the gig. Mind you, that might have been down to the free Jack Daniels and tour t-shirts, as this was the last night of the 'JD set' promotional tour. David Gedge, the tour's MC (and ex-The Wedding Present) even joined in on one of the tracks.




The venue is great too - upstairs from the Kings Head bar (named after The King as it happens) its distinctly different from the grotty little places I normally find myself in - a large space that occupies the entire first floor of the building, it had perfect sound, probably due to the sound baffles and heavy curtains that line the entire back wall of the venue, and in terms of the decor it looks like someone actually paid attention to creating some atmosphere rather than just slapping black paint everywhere. The Luminaire has won several 'venue of the year' awards, and there are gigs most nights of the week so I'm sure I'll be back...

From Official Secrets Act May 2009

"It's OK, my ship came in"

So go Shoreline's lyrics, last night's support act for Dark Captain Light Captain, at the most unusual gig venue so far this year, the Tamesis Dock, a converted ship tied up along Albert embankment opposite the Palace of Westminster



Shoreline, are more of a collective than a band, with their ten members taking a folky line on prog rock, playing a dizzying array of instruments including mandolins, cellos, banjoes and xylophones. Their music has a very mellow but memorable sound, and I'll definitely be keeping my ears open for them in future...



The main act of the night, and one of my favourite bands, Dark Captain Light Captain, treated us to some new material, including "Different But Easier" and "21 Seconds" - the only problem with their performance was the sound engineer, who I don't think would know a lead vocal if you hit him over the head with it. Well, it did get better during the set and the crowd certainly didn't seem to mind - a new album is likely to be in the offing next year, and if the new songs are anything to go by it will be a keeper :)

From Dark Captain Light Captain May 2009

Oh I must just mention the high-seas piracy of the bar onboard the Tamesis though - £12 for a wine, a beer and a coke - the bar staff should have been wearing eye-patches :|

Wolverine vs Captain Kirk Cage Match Part 2

OK, so on to the second film. On Friday evening I saw the new Star Trek movie on the absolutely massive main screen at the Empire in Leicester Square (we were so far forward - in the sixth row - that it filled my entire field of vision!)

This is an entirely different animal to the X-Men movie. Yes there's still plenty of action, on an even more monumental scale than Thursday's film if truth be told, but theres a lot more depth. There was a genuine harking back, not to the previous Star Trek movies, but to the 1960s TV series - in fact before very long I was mentally superimposing the original actors over their 21st century counterparts without missing a beat.

The physical mannerisms of the crew and their usual dialogue is all here, and there's even the stereotypical (made cringe-worthy by the Doctor in Voyager IMHO) "I'm a Doctor, not a..." line, but theres so much more - I think its because the chemistry between the members of this new cast is exactly like the 60s - I was welling up at times! There are even some revelations, including a totally unlikely romantic relationship, that I won't spoil for you.

All in all I really loved it - its the most satisfying film I've seen in at least twelve months. Just about everyone agrees with me too - it gets an almost unbelievable 95% approval rating on the Rotten Tomatoes site. I think Star Trek wins the match!

In fact, you know what, I think I'm going to introduce another friend to it this coming weekend...

Wolverine vs Captain Kirk Cage Match Part 1

Well over the last few days I've seen two movies....


On Thursday evening I went to see the new X-Men Origins movie - it fills in the backstory to one of the most popular X-Men, Wolverine. He's a bit of a strange choice though, because we know so much about his history from the previous movie outings - perhaps something focussing on Jean Grey or Storm would have been more appropriate. After all there are only so many cold, remote industrial locations you can stomach in one film!

That being said, there is lots and lots and lots of action in this one, and you get to see some of the characters in their early years, and a certain cajun makes his first appearance - my favourite X-Man, Gambit :)

War, What Is It Good For?

Another bank holiday adventure we had over the weekend was a visit to the Imperial War Museum near Lambeth North station. It's housed in the old Bethlem Royal Hospital building which was an asylum on Lambeth Road (it was colloquially known as 'Bedlam', from which the word to describe an uproar comes)




The main atrium area is given over to large exhibits of tanks, missiles and aircraft, and a full-size mock-up of a war-time 1940s suburban house. Down in the basement you can find the galleries given over to the World Wars as well as armed conflicts up to the present day. While the World War exhibits are comprehensive and cover all the theatres that battles took place in, as well as memorabilia from the home front and recreations of the trenches in World War I and the London Blitz of World War II, the later conflicts aren't covered in as much detail - the Falklands War only gets one cabinet of artifacts for example.





Other parts of the museum are given over to special exhibitions - there's a first floor exhibition on spys and spying at the moment (which includes an Enigma machine liberated by the Norwegian resistance - they've always fascinated me) as well as a section dedicated to Monty and a holocaust exhibition on the second floor. We didn't visit this as, after seeing Radegast station in Lodz, I think I've seen enough depictions of suffering and oppression for one year...

From Imperial War Museum May 2009

Of course, as with all of London's major museums, its free and definitely worth a visit if you're in that part of South London, although if you haven't been to National Maritime Museum in Greenwich I'd visit that first (if only for its definitive collection devoted to Lord Nelson), and it is very small compared to the vast war museum that you can find in Brussels...