However this works (probably just 2 large sized webcams) I love the idea.
More here: Telectroscope.
It’s from the same company that brought you the amazing Elephant.
Tag: London to see
The Girl goes S&M
Bob and Mick on the wall.
Red seats.
Red and white checkered plastic cloth on the table.
4 types of mustard.
HP Sauce, salt, pepper, sugar and ketchup.
And S&M in a London mix on the plate right in front of me.
Kinky.
How many Britons points do I get for actually liking that?
If you want it too, you can get it here.
And this is what it looks like. I think that Dutch people generally will like it as we are as kinky with potatoes as the Brits are. Or so it seems.
Have you ever tried a bit of S&M?
Update: Here is the Dutch version (as my mother makes it that is) of S & M
I put on two kisses
I don’t know why it took me this long, I guess because I all the time hoped that it wouldn’t close. That and because I am shy. So I waited for a quiet moment where there weren’t too many people around.
It’s more than a year ago, I talked about it with him. And suddenly there is only two and a half week left before it’s over and done with THE Cafe.
“Of course. Where do you want me to write?”
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I have no words
BBC London picked up on the closure of the beautiful New Piccadilly Cafe, you can watch the video clip here.
Meet Lorenzo, watch the waiters in their white uniforms, hear the bells of the cash register, enjoy the gargling pink coffee machine, check out the funky 50’s menu card and recognize scenes of The Girl in the Cafe.
And feel sad, angry, frustrated and heart broken about the fact that this is happening. That’s what I do.
This makes me very sad
The end of the New Piccadilly Cafe seem to be nigh now. Nigh means 22nd or 23rd of September 2007.
All I can say is: go visit it if you haven’t done so.
I can’t imagine any other place in London where I would go when having a writers block, feeling depressed, wanting to read or just to drink a coke with a pink straw. News like this makes me hate London.
You know you’ve found some of it when
You meet this nice street cleaner who asks you how you are while passing him. Good, thank you, and you?
Your busdrive to work passes The Royal Albert Hall, Kensington park, Hyde Park and Knightbridge.
You like the book you are reading.
The sun shines when you decide to go for lunch.
You work only a few hundred meters from Portobello Road where it is market day today.
You wander around on the market and it is indeed a nice market to wander on. (I had never been in Notting Hill on a market day (Friday and Saturday) before).
You find a cool vintage Levi’s jacket in one of the stalls with 2nd hand clothing, it’s exactly your size, it’s a girls jacket and it only costs a tenner.
You buy some sweet cherries in one of the fruit stalls with very nice people helping you.
You feel like Hugh Grant in Notting Hill again.
You realize that you are one lucky pirate, living in a city like this.
And now I realize I should have taken a picture of it, shouldn’t I?
(Yes I know they found a car bomb just a few meters from the cinema I often visit, but I try to ignore worrying thoughts)
Spiderman iii and Le Tour de France in London
The first in a long row of blockbusters hitting a cinema near you this year is Spiderman 3. I loved Spiderman 1, was less enthusiastic about 2, and number 3, well …
(there might be some spoilers ahead)
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HillBill(ie)
Parliament Hill, Hampstead Heath
While this weekend was destined to become one of the boring ones, a simple twist of fate turned it into a really nice one. London spring weather was amazingly sunny, my face is amazingly red and in stead of hanging around in cinemas someone showed me some areas in London I hadn’t been before.
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I live in a film
A blue house in Notting Hill
A sunny day in Notting Hill.
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The guy with the funky last name
A short landing around Tottenham Court Rd yesterday, before we took off again.
“I know where to go.” S. said.
“Oh Comedy. That is where you are supposed to laugh isn’t it. Don’t like it” that was the state I was in.
“He’s funny trust me.”
“I’m not really crazy about standuppers.”
“His last name is Mack.”
“Ha Ha. Very funny. And his first name is Billy right?” I said.
“Truly it is. Lee. Mack. Oh come on, come with me”
I did. To Drill Hall. Ha ha for a funny name for a place.
But it was here the BBC was recording the Radio 2 Lee Mack Show.
And 2 hours with Mack turned out to be exactly what I needed. Of course S. knows what I need.
2 hours so much laughter that the tears rolled down my face.
Hilarious jokes coming in such a high speed that it was hard to keep up.
And Mel C. performed 2 numbers live, after having been harassed about her Spice Girl career by Lee.
What a talent and what a crazy guy.
If you happen to live in London, you can visit the Lee Mack show for free, read more over here at the BBC.
Highly recommended, it blasts all your upcoming winter depressions to pieces.
Somewhere in London
Spike and Whitey in Regent Street
We have a serious problem.
What, what do you mean?
She absolutely hates Christmas.
Lost in London
Museum of London
Wandering through the city, looking for both my mind and my lawless heart, I suddenly stood in front of the Museum of London. I guess it was about time to strike something from my to-see list again.
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Monty Python’s Spamalot, London – review
Spamalot, the Monty Python musical finally opened in London 2 days ago, after a successful ride (Tony Award) on Broadway.
I am normally not that crazy about musicals, I tend to find them boring. But Spamalot is not your average musical, it kicks ass. It takes the piss out of every musical cliche you can come up with, it has stolen from every musical you can come up with, it is impressively actual and up to date, it is hilariously funny and has some very intelligent jokes too. The set design is fantastic with castles, palaces and things like a huge trojan, uhm, rabbit. And people like the Knights Who Say Ni (We are no longer the Knights who say “NI”. We are now the Knights who say “Icky Icky Icky Icky”). So silly, but so very funny.
Tim Curry is brilliant as King Arthur (he will play King Arthur until January 2007) always followed by his coconut gallopping assistant, and the Lady of the Water has an amazing voice, while singing beautifooly songs. And You get John Cleese as the voice of God. And ..
Well I am not even that big a Monty Python fan, but what can I say, you want to see this.
It’s big big fun.
It blinked to me
Stormbreaker Eye
I took a weekend off from writing, I had a family member visiting me. We have been touristing London, and I learned one thing: I am still afraid of heights. I climbed the first 30 steps of Monument, but had to turn back, after my legs had turned into strawberry jelly.
So I wasn’t exactly eager to look into the Eye too. But I had promised to go along, and so I went. Standing in the queue for 45 minutes didn’t make it any easier, as I had too much time to think things through. Standing right in front of this huge construction, I suddenly relaxed. Alan Blunt had been there, probably triple checking everything concerning safety, and things could not go wrong now.
The view over London from the Eye is great, it really is, and you can see far on a bright day, which it was. But I was glad they have benches in those capsules so I could sit down (jelly legs), and I was even more glad to have solid ground under my feet again after the 30 minutes in the air. The London Eye is a must-do, should you ever visit London. Not the least because it is friendly. And while we are at it – we visited Westminster Abbey too, but were quite disappointed. It’s expensive (?10) and quite boring.
Latest news on the ongoing flatmate war : the evil flatmate moved out yesterday – but not after pulling some more evil tricks like not wanting to return the keys and things like that. We just hope that the next one moving in is indeed a nice person. Davy and I now will enjoy a week of peace and quietness, we really need this after this nerve wrecking period, and the new one moves in on the 5th of September.
The Cafe is threathened by closure
New Piccadilly Cafe, Denman St, London W1
More and more rumours are going around that the Cafe, yes the one and only THE CAFE, is closing. The owner is facing another raise in rent, and he is not really willing to settle for that, so if things are not getting in place, they will close this summer.
I haven’t been there for a while (and I feel pretty bad about that right now), so I will go there tonight, and I hope to hear from them that things are going to be fine. It would break my heart if they had to close.
But (and this might be a last attempt), go visit the Cafe, if and/or when you are in London before it might be too late. It is a really nice place!
New Piccadilly Cafe
8 Denman Street
Piccadilly Circus
London, W1
(Here it is on a googlemap)
And some links:
New Picadilly
New Piccadilly on design classics
Stomp, Vaudeville theatre, London
You have to know that all the theatreshows in London are being advertised as “The best show in London” and “Not to be missed” and then the name of a newspaper and the obligatory “*****”.
So I went to see Stomp, in the Vaudeville theatre on Strand. Because I like drums and percussion and rhythm, and can remember very clearly how extatic I got watching Yamato – The drummers of Japan, when I saw them in Aarhus a while ago.
So Stomp: “Stomp is an explosion of movement and rhythms that is at all times entertaining and on occasion amusing or thrilling.”
Sounded interesting. And it was fun in the beginning, but after 15 minutes I got kind of bored. The show is basically just one long chain of people hammering on stuff. On sweepers, on wood, on metal on everything. And they do it in a very rhytmic way, and the audience loved it, I could tell. But I wasn’t too impressed. Maybe because I have seen so many cool things already here in London (Blue Men and big Elephants had no problem whatsoever to impress me).
But after them banging on for a while I got irritated. The next act began. A few people entered the stage with newspaper. And I thought – if they are going to make noise with them too I am going to bang my head against the chair.
So today I have a headache.
If you want to see concept theatre, go see the Blue Man, if you want to see a decent play, there are plenty to pick from, and I don’t mean We Will Rock You or Mama Mia. My ticket for Kevin Spacey’s The Moon for the misbegotten arrived in my mailbox yesterday, and I can’t wait to see him. I’m convinced that he is going to be really good.
The Fool On The Hill
I know I complained about it, but even though the weather was as good as it can be, I stayed inside to watch Holland – Serbia/Monte Negro at 3pm. 3pm UK time that was, which was about an hour too late, so I missed the first half. I keep forgetting that I am living in another timezone now.
After this act of misplaced nationalism, I needed some fresh air. And I knew where to get it. Hopping off at Belsize Park (Northern Line), I began walking, on my way to Hampstead Heath (a big park in the north of London).
But just before the real climbing began (I was heading for Parliament Hill) I needed some water. And how convenient – I passed a Marks & Spencers.
Step into another world : The Mandir, London
You have to jump on the tube, and take a long journey North West to visit the Mandir temple. You reach areas where the underground changes to overground, and you get off at Stonebridge Park (Bakerloo Line). When you leave the train you can see the impressive Wembley Stadium which is currently being rebuild, and delayed, and on walking distance from this station.
But this wasn’t the reason for my trip in this direction of London.