Month: November 2004

More Producing

I suspect I may be a lone voice in expressing a little (and just a little) disappointment.

Following up on my previous review of The Producers, I’ve had a little more time to think about it and earlier I posted this to Gay Boy Musicals Fans UK at Yahoo!

Having read the positive reader comments on the BBC’s story about The Producers I suspect I may be a lone voice in expressing a little (and just a little) disappointment. I hadn’t read many reviews but I did know about the reception it had received in the US and the praise heaped on Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick.

I haven’t seen the film which, judging by the number of people sitting around me who had, means I was possibly one of only a small number of people in the audience who hadn’t. I wonder if that made a difference?

I saw it a week or so ago and it was good but not as good as all the raving would imply. While Nathan Lane’s talent, comic timing and performance cannot be faulted I did find weaknesses in the show. I thought some of the musical numbers in the middle were slow and the Ulla character was not engaging at all – in fact she was positively irritating. James Dreyfuss was camp (which, I guess, is the intention) but in that 1970s OTT cringe worthy way. Humour is, of course, personal and subjective, but I found it only amusing and not
laugh-out-loud funny as many of the reviews suggest.

Still, I would take issue with the review of Lee Evans’ performance which says ‘he just about holds his own’. I would argue that he did far more than that. He too was excellent, believable & humorous and while I’ve never been a big fan of his stage antics he worked well in the role. In fact, for me, he worked so well I can’t imagine Broderick in the role.

I will, however, recommend the show because it stands out from much of the rest of the West End right now – it is good. It’s has some wonderful comedy and delightful musical moments. But the sum of those individual moments does not, in my opinion, add up to a great whole. I
even bought the soundtrack in the hope that familiarity with the songs will make me warm to more of them.

Maybe it’s just me.

The Point Of Art?

Paintings and installations don’t come high up on my list of things to do

Can it really be a whole year – yesterday – since I lay on the floor at The Tate Modern on the South Bank and looked up at that bizarre, yet compelling, installation that was Olafur Eliasson’s Weather Project? The very fact that I loved it, and wrote about it, made me realise that, generally, art doesn’t feature a great deal in my life. I mean paintings and installations don’t come high up on my list of things to do. I have spent time in most of the major London galleries since I have been here but nothing ever ‘clicks’ with me and, to be honest, apart from an Annie Leibovitz exhibition a few years ago I can’t recall much that I have seen. I wonder why paintings, sculpture etc. don’t resonate with me? I went to the Dali museum/gallery on the South Bank months ago as I thought the surrealism might be more appealing – but it was only marginally more so. In 2001 I went to see Martin Creed’s Turner Prize winning lights (going on and off in a room) and just didn’t get it (at all). It’s very strange really as I would like to appreciate art more and I would love to be able to take good photographs. It’s not that I don’t see that it’s good (or bad) art but more that most of the art I have seen simply washes over me. It doesn’t grab me. Maybe I should just keep looking! As for other things that I did last year, I really won’t mind being on a plane back to Helsinki but my boss went instead.

Night Off

So, I am not at the gym and I won’t beat myself up about it.

Tonight I am not going out socialising. Ever since Gym Buddy Day a free evening would have meant a trip to the gym but, this evening, I am sat ripping music so that my computer’s jukebox contains a few more of the CDs that I am running out of space to house. It’s a rare, spare, evening but I couldn’t face the thought of the gym tonight. It would have been the third consecutive day I would have gone and I have, so far, been fairly religious about my ‘ever other day’ rule. I tend to find evenings at home with leisure as my only goal are the worst in terms of eating; which is why I am sat ripping music. I have given myself a purpose for tonight. Usually on evenings such as this I would go to the gym but restrict myself with a few lengths of the pool – I have always felt that swimming doesn’t contravene the ‘ever other day’ rule as I find it the hardest of exercises because I don’t do it properly. Therefore, it doesn’t count as exercise. Sure, I stay above water and motor up and down but I have no technique and I always feel that when I am out of breath in the pool it’s because I haven’t been breathing correctly. Anyway, there are two pool-based classes back-to-back on Tuesdays which means those of us who just want to swim are restricted to a small portion of the water and that makes it too hard. So, I am sat here listening to The Hidden Cameras and enjoying every minute of it.

A Box That Does It All

The MBEN’s job is to sort it out, handle it, deliver it, and to do so automatically. You don’t have to get a bunch of different little boxes to store and sort through things. It has an audio/video tuner, an amp, a hard drive, everything necessary for you to do the things you want to do.

Mobile phones and PDAs – something I try to talk about occasionally and not very well. It’s at times like this that I bow to somebody with superior writing and thought processing capabilities. Therefore, gentle reader my I present Lance Arthur: The MBEN Cometh. If you read these words of wisdom you’ll understand what I was trying to say.

Eleven Years In The Big Smoke

I’ve been in London eleven years now. Things have moved on a bit in that time.

Eleven years ago today I started my working life. It was my first post-university full-time job. I was a support engineer on a satellite audio network: the shifts seemed awful and the pay (at least in the first few years) not much better but I loved the job and the people. Many of those colleagues continue to be friends to this day although we haven’t worked together for seven and a half years. It also means that I have been living in London for eleven years, yesterday. I’ve been trying to locate things that have changed in that time. I live in a different place (but only the second place I’ve inhabited in London) and I’m on my 5th job. I don’t work the shifts anymore but, in many ways, miss them and the routine they gave you. I’m wi-fied, pda’d, multi-channeled and mobile (in the phone sense) where I wasn’t – which I guess means my money is being spent on more frivolous things.

London has changed that’s for sure. We have a Mayor and Congestion Charging. Docklands has grown beyond all recognition in the last eleven years; there are some new building on the skyline and the Southbank has been opened up considerably. Like Edinburgh, there are now branches of Starbucks (and every other coffee shop you can imagine) where once there were other retail outlets. The Gap no longer seems to be the height of fashion but then again I can no longer wander into a branch of C&A looking at all the clothes I don’t want. There’s still a good sandwich shop on every street but they’re now mixed in with branches of Tesco and Sainsburys who seem to have rediscovered town centres.

I know an eleven-year working life has allowed me to travel to places I, perhaps, would not have gone without work (and many I couldn’t have gone to with the cash from working). It certainly has allowed me to try more restaurants and cuisines of other countries than I ever though possible. I imagine I own more than I did back then but I can’t really quantify it (I may be a frying pan down and a dinner plate up but I’ve never really counted them).

I’m older, but fitter, than I was eleven years ago. I have a wider circle of friends in London than I could have thought possible eleven years ago. I’m always short of time now whereas I used to have to find things to fill the hours when I wasn’t working.

Of course the biggest change in those years has been social use of the internet: email, usenet and the web were not commonplace when I started working. It was that first job that introduced me to more than academic networks. When I first got an email address I only knew one person outside of my company who I could give it to. Now, it’s given me a career, a whole new way to express and organise myself and – probably – hours of entertainment.

All in all, I think I am a wiser, happier and more contented individual (perhaps I little more stressed). So, happy anniversary to me.

I Love Firework Displays

After returning home and talking about Borough Market, we headed off to meet some colleagues for the fireworks at Battersea Park, where the lighting of the bonfire lead up to fireworks set to music

Battersea Bonfire 2004After returning home and talking about Borough Market, we headed off to meet some colleagues for the fireworks at Battersea Park, where the lighting of the bonfire lead up to fireworks set to music (I think my bonfire picture looks a little sinister somehow). Yet again, there was a huge crowd and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Before the actual fireworks commenced there was a display of arial acrobatics with trapeze artists who were performing some kind of mid-air ballet set to music. The performers were all suspended from a huge crane which allowed the audience on the fields below to watch the spectacle. They also used dancing kites set to music and illuminated from below to add to the effect. Sadly, many of the crowd were only there for the explosions and starting jeering. I was not impressed by those that starting booing – I thought the show was a great attempt to try to do something a little more than just have a series of spectacular fireworks and the council and the performers deserved much credit. The fireworks themselves were, as the Battersea show always is, spectacular. I was trying to explain the origins of bonfire night to one of our group who comes from Italy and was not aware of the traditions. Sadly, I was unable to remember much of what I learnt last year:

Responding to papal denunciations and pressure from radical Protestants, Queen Elizabeth’s government severely penalised practising Catholics. Catholics hoped for greater toleration from James, whose Queen was herself a Catholic. Instead, James reconfirmed Elizabeth’s anti-Catholic legislation; he also ended England’s war with Spain, removing any hope of imposing Catholicism by force [source]

Great London Food Market Revisited

Today we managed to eat at the Spanish Chorizo stall that I previously mentioned and had a good old look around Borough Market again.

The Cutty Sark on 6 November 2004Today we managed to eat at the Spanish Chorizo stall that I previously mentioned and had a good old look around Borough Market again. It really is full of some of the most fantastic food and I still wonder why on earth there aren’t more markets like that around the UK. Borough Market was, once again, heaving with a wide range of people. Some, clearly at the tourist end of the scale, just looking and, perhaps, picking up a bite to eat. Some, like us, were wandering in search of both the bit to eat and something to bring home and cook over the next few days. Others, clearly more local (many seemed to have come on bicycles), appeared to be doing their weekly grocery shop. The market thrilled me yet again – if you’re in London at the weekend it’s a must (and trust me, the queue for the Chorizo burgers really does indicate how great they are). If you’re looking for directions, Borough Market is just behind Southwalk Cathedral (and near London Bridge underground station) and near The Cutty Sark (that’s the picture – food stalls didn’t seem photogenic).

UPDATE: Julian just mailed me and pointed out that I am not really talking about The Cutty Sark at all (which is the big thing down Greenwich way) and my picture is of a replica of The Golden Hind. I knew this (I’ve even been to a wedding on board) so why I got it confused is a mystery. Thanks for pointing out my stupidity.

More Say About Trains Than Bush

As almost the rest of the world wants to talk about the US Election (what on earth have you done to the world now?) I want to talk about trains.

As almost the rest of the world wants to talk about the US Election (what on earth have you done to the world now?) I want to talk about trains. Yesterday I mentioned my trip to Edinburgh and I noted that I travelled by train. I didn’t tell you of the sheer pleasure of travelling on a high-speed GNER train and I won’t have all those nay-sayers who want to moan about the service stop me. Clean, comfortable and (except for one brief 15-minute slow down as we criss-crossed track works) very high speed. An at-seat buffet trolly with things you’d like to eat and a well-stock buffet car (I skipped the sit-down lunch in the restaurant car despite the fact it looked good). Apparently, there was a wireless network (although I couldn’t find it) but, sensibly, there were power-points near my standard class seating to charge my lap-top and mobile ‘phone. All that and no waiting around at airports and ‘please turn off all electrical items’ until we are quite high. The last time I went to Scotland the journey was turbulant to say the least, but that’s another story.

On the way back yesterday afternoon the train was older and more crowded (as we hadn’t booked seats there was a little more of a scramble). Still, two comfortable seats, coffee served at your seat and a newspaper seemed like a good way to travel home (no roadworks or turbulence). We were in the Quiet Carriage which, in principal, is a nice idea. However, the quiet was lost on:

  • a Japanese student with an annoying high-pitched ring-tone and a line in friends who wanted to hear the detail of his journey home
  • the larger lady who turned off the ring on her ‘phone only to talk all the way from Newcastle (or was it York) to colleagues about how she’d turned her ringer off and – while she was heading back to the office to tell them about the meeting – it went very well, darling, sweetie.
  • two women on a shopping trip from Newcastle who were so excited about their purchases they unpacked each one and cooed at each other all the way to London
  • a man whose iPod was so loud I know he was listening to Keane
  • a woman who (I think) was doing very badly at whatever game she was playing on her portable game-thing as it made lots of those baritone beeps that I associate with people failing to answer questions on Family Fortunes

All such activity made it almost impossible for anybody to hear the announcements from our train’s Customer Service Leader (whatever happened to The Guard?) that it was a quiet carriage and you should turn off all equipment that makes annoying sounds and hold mobile telephone conversations in the vestibules (which used to be the cold bits between carriages but seem to have been given a new lease of life).

A Familiar City

I was a student in Stirling and regularly spent time in both Glasgow and Edinburgh. I find it hard to be one of those people who can firmly sit on one side of Central Region and declare undying loyalty to one city or the other.

I was a student in Stirling and regularly spent time in both Glasgow and Edinburgh. I find it hard to be one of those people who can firmly sit on one side of Central Region and declare undying loyalty to one city or the other. During the time I spent in Scotland, Glasgow was City of Culture and was a vibrant place to be. On the other hand, Edinburgh has always appeared to be the calmer brother, perhaps a little aloof until you go to know him. My own brother lives in Edinburgh which perhaps explains why, when I do head back to Scotland, I’ve only ever been back to Edinburgh (and one, short weekend in Stirling).

It’s been with much joy that I have spent most of yesterday and today in Edinburgh on business (actually, I was in Dundee this morning but it still counts). As soon as I stepped of the train I felt like I was home on familiar turf. A few moments and memories started flooding back. Edinburgh of my memory, however, doesn’t have any Starbucks and had a big branch of C&A right at the top of Princess Street by the station. Now it has Starbucks and no C&A but it still felt right (and slightly chilly). It continues to have sensible licensing laws that allow me to drink later without tempting me to stay up all night (although, frankly, I am not sure you can call licensing laws sensible when you get the hangover I had).

Reading The TV News Headlines

So TV News tonight has only one topic – an election on the other side of the world. Is nothing else happening?

TV News always looks exciting and glamorous: being a TV news anchor carries authority and power and doesn’t have to come with all the trapping of fame; a TV journalist has the travel, a sense of excitement and, sometimes, even the risk. The cameras and the lights: a heady mix of worthiness, weight and touch of showbiz! However, right now I am watching the talented people of Sky News trying to fill the hours covering the American elections with nothing much to say. It must be a horrible task – hours and hours to fill and nothing at all to say. Hopefully, tomorrow, there will be some facts that can be reported on. Right now 74 votes to Bush anmd 78 to Kerry. The future of our world could, easily, be in the hands of one of them.

Forgotten Projects?

Time to revisit a forgotten project: boybands!

So yesterday’s on this day link took me off on a memorable journey to the Forgotten Project of the ultimate boyband CD – which, as a side diversion, for the stress of my working life at the moment I have decided to invest some time in.

For those of you late to the party here was the aim two years ago: construct a CDs worth of music from boybands of any decade that will go attempt to show that there is some logevity in the product. If you will, it’s an attempt to show that it is possible to have classic tunes that come from the manufactured world of boyband pop. This is what we had last time:

  1. N’Sync – Pop
  2. Take That – Relight My Fire
  3. Take That – Could It Be Magic
  4. F5ive – If Ya Gettin’ Down
  5. Backstreet Boys – Everybody (Backstreet’s Back)
  6. A1 – Same Old Brand New You
  7. A1 – Caught In The Middle
  8. Blue – All Rise

And you are – most definitely – not allowed to call me shallow!

Previously: Ultimate Boy Band CD (1) & The Ultimate Boy Band CD (2) Aka The I Am Shallow Project

The Whispering Years

It’s not dull or bland in anyway but, perhaps because there’s a little of the 60s hippy left in Bob Harris, you feel the measured approach is entirely appropriate.

You really do get to appreciate ‘Whispering’ Bob Harris’ love of music through his autobiography, ‘The Whispering Years‘. You’ll read in the blurb that he’s been married three times; has had to re-start his career from scratch several times and almost lost his record collection to a fellow Radio 1 disc jockey. What you may not get from reviews is a feeling of the genuine passion he has for the music and how big a role some of the greatest musicians of the last thirty years have played in his life. You feel as uneasy as Bob appeared to over the fame that The Old Grey Whistle Test brought him and you will feel somewhat betrayed when Radio One remove him (I’d forgotten he was the voice launched round-the-clock Radio One in August 1990). Throughout his career he stuck to his passion – the music – and shunned the computer generated radio that dominates the airwaves today. His interview technique was considered ‘less than penetrating’ in the past but that gentle approach serves him well in book form. It’s not dull or bland in anyway but, perhaps because there’s a little of the 60s hippy left in Bob Harris, you feel the measured approach is entirely appropriate. If you love music (and not just progressive rock) or enjoy his radio programmes then The Whispering Years will be engaging, fascinating and inspiring.