Month: June 2008

Hyde Park, the Police, KT Tunstall and a frisbee

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The Police in Hyde park

That was it then, but it could not have been better weather for it. The Police played their final UK concert ever in Hyde Park yesterday, and according to the number of people wearing Police t-shirts a lots of their fans met up to say goodbye to them. It was a nearly 2 hour long extravaganza of their hits and apart from Sting having a beard making him 20 years older, and Steward Copeland wearing the complete wrong specs – it was good!

There were an estimated 35.000 people in Hyde Park, but we were surprised how relaxed it was. We were not very close to the stage, but the sound was good and we could sit/stand without having to touch our neighbours.

Just as good as The Police was to hear KT Tunstall live. She is cool, she is great live and I love her Eye to the Telescope album, which is on high rotation in my ears at the moment. I will certainly catch one of her concerts should she come to London again.

On Saturday I returned to Eastbourne and had another walk in the Beachy Head area. The weather was amazing, but the beach was nearly empty. Which made it safe enough for us to play some frisbee for a while which was fun at the time. Today I can feel pain in muscles on places I didn’t even know I had muscles. Don’t say it’s an age thing.

Oh, and we will soon be 2 + 1 + 1 = 4.

Bond in 60 seconds

thegirlinthecafe 10 Comments

OK, do you remember I worked on a short film this spring? And do you also remember that you still had not seen the result of that hard work?

Well the wait is over!

May I present to you: James Bond in 60 Seconds!

No it does not have Daniel Craig. But it has a villain, a Bond car, explosions, underwater stunt scenes, locations as exotic as Hong Kong and St. Petersburg, speedboats on the Thames, a very handsome James Bond, and all that in 60 seconds!

We made this 60 seconds short for a competition where you had to remake an existing movie in a 60 seconds version.

Fasten your seatbelts and don’t blink – you might miss something.

Ladies and gentleman, find your popcorn and Coke: Bond in 60 Seconds!
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Shallowness on Portobello Road

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Two “look at me I am cool” wannabees:

Man (American, older, sunglasses, hair that does not suit his age) to woman (American, younger, blond, but quite unlike Paris Hilton):
Well, hello are you here!

(yes of course she is here moron, you can see here can’t you!)

Woman: Yes! Are you here too?

(Duh!! Well if he is not here – who are you talking to!)

Man : Yes I am here.

Fake smiles the both of them

Man: Well I will see you next time.

Woman with a “huh – what next time” look: Yes – by-ee

Man : By-ee

And all I thought was: yep. Let’s have a cup of tea.

7 to groove you out on a Monday

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Red iPod

“List seven songs you are into right now. No matter what the genre, whether they have words, or even if they’re not any good, but they must be songs you’re really enjoying now, shaping your spring. Post these instructions in your blog along with your 7 songs. Then tag 7 other people to see what they’re listening to.”

I found this meme somewhere on the net, but I can’t remember where. I have included links to the songs on Youtube, so get your dancing shoes and start grooving.

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Fess up Friday plus four

thegirlinthecafe 5 Comments

  1. OK first the fess up part of this post:

    Well at least I made a postcard! And on this postcard I wrote a couple of words! Does that count?

    I hope so.

    To my defence I can say that at least I have opened the script in Final Draft and looked at it. I didn’t type anything, I looked at it.

    And when I sat in the cinema this week, watching Caramel, I suddenly wasn’t sure that I wanted to write the story I was planning to write. Not right now anyway. I need some more time to think. I want a more happy story.

    So apart from the occasional badly written boring blog post here – it’s not going very well, no …

  2. I have booked a 24 hour trip to Denmark next weekend. I am going to sort out the boxes that are still stored there, and for which I pay way too much money to have them stored. They are nagging in the back of my head constantly. So I am going to be strong and will drive most of it directly to the Red Cross. The last bits that I want to keep I will throw in a bag and bring with me to London. I haven’t seen those boxes for 2 years now, so it’s about time to close that chapter.
  3. I have brought my own lunch to the office for a whole week now. That hasn’t happened for 20 years or so. It takes some extra minutes in the morning but it:
    • saves loads of money, sandwiches are about £2.50, and those are the cheap ones
    • means you don’t have to wait for the sandwich man to come and save you from a rumbling tummy, you can eat whenever you want
    • is more healthy
    • makes you feel 12 all over again. I even bought a lunch box for it.
  4. I saw God of Carnage for a second time yesterday and it was still good, but the first time was better. Need to remember that only very few plays need to be seen twice (Shadowlands) and even fewer (The Vertical Hour and everything else with Bill) as many times as you possibly can.

    One does not really get tired of the twinkle in the eyes of Ken Stott though.

  5. Yes you can send the above card if you like.

Three to watch: The Waiting Room, Caramel and Gone Baby Gone

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Caramel
Something as unusual as a Lebanese Rom-com. IMDB quotes it as a oriental “Sex in the City”. I wouldn’t go that far, but the 4 women who work in the hairdresser, which is the centre of the film, are as different as the SATC women, and their problems are universal. It’s a great film, it is very sweet and lovely, and there are 2 wonderful old ladies in it, and one of them, the woman called Lily, will for sure, steal your heart.
[rating:4.5/5]

It’s a very small film, but should it come to a cinema near you – go see it.

The Waiting Room
This warm hearted British rom is also not a blockbuster, but if you believe in love at first sight then you should go and see it. And if you don’t, you might after watching it. Also here lovely performances from older actors (some of the film is situated in a care home). Go see this one too.
[rating:4/5]

Gone Baby Gone
The story of this film does have some resemblance with the Madeleine McCann case which is why the release of this film got postponed for a year, and finally now it has arrived in the UK. This is one of the best films I have seen this year. I already liked Casey Affleck in the Jesse James film but in this one he has established himself as one of the most interesting American actors around. And let his brother Ben stay behind the camera, he did a great job directing this one, and to be honest, his acting skills at not something to write home about.
[rating:5/5]

Stop Shopping …

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Stop Shopping

I should have remembered this when I went shopping yesterday. While I took a pack of Apple Juice from the fridge, 5 other packs from different shelves (shelves I did not even touch!) somehow jumped at me too. Some ended on the floor, others started off domino effects on other shelves, in other words it became somewhat of a mess on the floor in the Sainbury’s.

Before I even had a chance to pick up the first pack in an attempt to put everything back where it belonged, two men, in suits, where already picking up packs for me, putting them back in the fridge. I was kind of overwhelmed, but did remember to say thank you. And they both, nearly simultaneously said – You’re welcome.

I. Love. British. Gentlemen.

UK Coast: Bognor Regis

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I went to Bognor Regis, and I had a good day.

Bognor Regis is much smaller and therefore much less touristy than Brighton. The weather was marvellous, and I haven’t done much more than walk to a nearly empty piece of the pebbled beach, sit/lay down, stare over the beautiful blue sea, sniffed up the fresh sea air, waved at Jonathan Livingstone Seagull, and read my book.

Bognor Regis is typical example of a British beach site: a long promenade, several fish and chips shops, ice cream, a (not very interesting) pier, and lots of pebbles.

Pebbled beaches are so convenient. You have to wiggle a bit to find a comfortable place to sit/lay down but: no sand in your shoes, bag, book or socks!

On my way home from the nearly empty train I spotted:
42 cows
149 bunnies!
2 foxes

But no sheep. The sheep on the picture are walking around on the Isle of Man. I took several photos of the sheep there, and funny enough, on nearly every single one of them there is one sheep looking directly into the camera, as if to say:

“What are you looking at?”

Or “You are wearing such a weird coat!”
Or “Why do you have only 2 legs?”
Or maybe “Why are you not eating grass?”

If the weather stays like this next weekend, I’ll be off again. Littlehampton, Rye, Portsmouth and many more places are waiting out there. It’s good to live on an island.

Fess up Friday and some random bits

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  • I saw this over at Bloglily, and also on The Public, the Private and Everything In Between. And I have decided to join. It’s an idea from the literate kitten and the idea is that you every Friday will have to confess why, in my case that is, I again haven’t done any writing. And if I ever get my act together again to actually go and do some writing – I will use the Fess up Friday to pen down that I did!

    I haven’t picked up a pen (or rather haven’t touched Billy Mac for writing purposes) since I finished my feature script, and that was some months ago.

    It’s not that I don’t know what to write – I do.
    It’s not that I don’t have the time – I do.
    It’s not that I don’t know what to write it on – I do.
    It’s not that I don’t know which cafe to go to to write it – I do.

    Then why is it so hard to get started?

    I am going to try to write a tiny little scene before next Friday, just to get started.

  • I just finished my second Henning Mankell book: Sidetracked. I love his Kurt Wallander books (they are detectives), they are very well written and very clever too. (The BBC is making some of them into a drama series with Kenneth Brannagh playing Wallander, which I think is a good cast)

    I also loved Firewall, which I bought on the Isle of Man for £1.50 in a lovely second hand bookshop in Peel. Both books will now go on to readitswap it. And I have just swapped one of my other books for a third Mankell book which is on its way to London.

  • Planned for the weekend:
    • watching a film: either Gone, Baby gone (Ben Affleck’s drama starring Casey Affleck) or The Waiting room (Brit rom (com)). Will catch the non chosen one later next week.
    • Back to the coast. Again. Southern has this great ticket called the downlander which let you travel through the south east of the UK all day for £12.50. That’s a very good deal. You need to book it 2 days (no more no less) in advance though, and print your own ticket.

      I am currently considering to either go to Bognor Rigis or Littlehampton. If there are any other tips I would love to hear them!

Have a good weekend.

Bring on the night

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The Police and full supporting Bill

In September 2007 I saw the Police in Twickenham, with a delay of about 25 years. It was a fantastic concert.

My good friend made me aware of the fact that The Police is playing their final ever gig in Hyde Park on the 29th of June. The very last the Police concert? I did manage to both convince her to come along, and to buy tickets for it so on the 29th of June it will be “Every little thing he does is magic” for the very last time live.

Another reason why we wanted to go is because KT Tunstall plays that day too. As does Starsailor, The Bangles and The Stranglers – seems like we get transferred back to the 80’s all day!

But most of all we want to go because there will be a full supporting Bill. We love Bill, we really do!

(More on Hard Rock Calling in Hyde Park, London)

Love – the musical, Lyric theatre Hammersmith – review

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LOVE - the musical

I can’t remember how I stumbled upon this, but I blindly bought a ticket on the title and poster alone. No regrets about that I can say.

Yesterday I saw Love – the Musical. And how refreshing to watch actors that are passed 60 and I think, without insulting any of them, some of them were passed 70 too. It was clear they enjoyed this play, and it was a huge cast!

The story was sweet:

Neville is approaching eighty and slowly wasting away in an unremarkable care home in a small English town. His life seems to be heading for an end until Margaret arrives. Brought in by her son for a short stay, Margaret is terrified of what will happen to her — until she meets Neville and he suggests they escape for a night out on the town…

There is a lot of singing going on, a lot of modern songs and it was a joy to hear them performed by people of this age.

I heard Blur, David Bowie, The Rolling Stones, The Verve, Kaiser Chiefs, Franz Ferdinand and many more.

I laughed and I cried. And was shocked and surprised when the old man with the rollator who seemed to live in his own world most of the time, suddenly started singing too. But mostly I enjoyed watching them, trying not to think too much about where I will be when I am that age.

It reminded my of Awakenings, the wonderful film with Robert de Niro and Robin Williams and I can highly recommend this play.