Lemur Life

Are you civilised?

2011-09-08T12:08:00.000+08:00

Northeast China is currently tidying up its image. Most cities are in competition to find out which city is the most civilised. The northeast has a bad image in China. The locals up this way are not the skinny short Chinese in the Western imagination, but rather most of them are tall and fairly solid types. It isn’t far from where Genghis Khan is from and of course the Russian border is also nearby. There is a saying that in the south of China when people have a problem it might slowly escalate into a yelling match, whereas in the north it is more likely that someone will hit your first and then you discover that there is something annoying them.

In my city, Changchun, all the lines on the roads have been re-painted in the vain hope that drivers will actually obey them now. At street crossings there are flag waving whistle blowing Nazis that try to keep the pedestrians under control. Fences have been placed down the centre of many roads where either pedestrians have been unable to stop themselves from J walking, or where drivers frustrated with being in a traffic jam often decide that the empty oncoming traffic lane looks like the better option (it’s only empty because the traffic light up ahead is temporarily red and you can imagine the ensuing chaos). We also have all new rubbish lines lining the street, and many pedestrian areas have been re-paved. Unfortunately the re-paving has made many areas suddenly become attractive looking parking lots with many drivers leaving their cars blocking the sidewalk.

Probably my favourite driving trick is the left hand turn. In China people drive on the right hand side, so making a left hand turn at the traffic light involves crossing the oncoming traffic and hence waiting for a gap in the traffic – or so it should. When the light turns red most drivers won’t stay in the turning lane waiting for the light to turn green, but will instead park themselves directly in front of the oncoming traffic. This method guarantees that when the light turns green, they get to go first, as they have now successfully blocked all oncoming traffic. The only drawback of this method is if the road they are turning into has a traffic jam…

Anyway, back to the main reason for this post. As part of the be civilised competition a neighbouring town (Tonghua) has decided to upgrade their police uniforms (hopefully you can see the picture). What I’m not sure about is whether policewomen in miniskirts and boots should get them additional points or whether points should be subtracted…

Interviews

2011-05-28T11:44:00.001+08:00

I haven't really had much experience in interviewing people for jobs, but I found these comments in Malcolm Gladwell’s “What The Dog Saw” really interesting. Gladwell interviews Justin Menkes who suggests a slightly different way to ask interview questions. Let me quote the examples, and then we can draw our own conclusions.

I’m sure we’ve all prepared ourselves for the following fairly standard interview questions:

· “Describe a few situations in which your work was criticised. How did you handle the criticism?”

· “Tell me about a time when you had to do several things at once. How did you handle the situation? How did you decide what to do first?”

Menkes suggests the following variations:

· “At your weekly team meetings, your boss unexpectedly begins aggressively critiquing your performance on a current project. What do you do?”

· “You’re in a situation where you have two very important responsibilities that both have a deadline that is impossible to meet. You cannot accomplish both. How do you handle that situation?”

On the one hand they are not hugely different, but maybe different enough to throw the interviewee off and make them forget their pre-prepared answers. On the upside you might get a more honest response, but then again these are responses to imagined situations.

There are two more examples of standard questions, but Gladwell doesn’t mentioned if Menkes have an enhanced version of these two questions:

· “What is your greatest weakness?”

· “What would your friends say about you?”

I wonder how they could be made into the Menke’s mould:

· “Your wife wants to divorce you. What reasons does she give?”

· “If you write your own obituary, what do you think you would write?”

Social Faux Pas

2010-12-11T21:58:00.000+08:00

I recently discovered two social faux pas that I wasn’t aware of before. I sometimes re-tuck my shirt in, especially during winter when I find my thermals have come untucked but my shirt is still tucked in. I usually start by untucking everything, and then putting it all back in. In my mind it surely isn’t a terribly unnatural action, but occasionally I’ve done it in the classroom whilst waiting for the students to complete something. Usually a few students can’t help but laugh my re-tucking procedure. At first I thought it was just kids laughing at my awkward motions, but l recently found out that it’s actually rude to do this in public. The correct procedure is to go to the men’s room…

I found all of this a little hard to grasp, when reflecting back on summer time. If you find the weather too hot, you can simply lift the front of your shirt up exposing your belly (men only!). This works better if you have a pot belly, as your shirt will sit up nicely by itself. Fairly unsightly in my opinion, but then nothing compared with meal time. Eating hot pot or something else laden with chilli during summer can certainly make you sweat, so you should feel to take your shirt off in the restaurant. It didn’t seem to matter if you were in a cheapish place or pretty posh establishment, overheating men whipping off their shirts turned out to be a normal summer phenomenon. Next summer I’ll need to pay more attention to if they went to the toilet to put their shirt back on...

The other social faux pas I found was to do with taking off your sweater. If your sweater doesn’t have a zip or buttons on the front, you would normally pull it off over your head. Well, this also shouldn’t be done in public.

If you know during the day you will need to take off your sweater or later put one on, you should make sure you leave the house wearing a sweater with buttons or a zip. Otherwise you will have to tolerate the heat until you can slip away to the toilet to take off your sweater. In support of this I have witnessed some Chinese people sweltering during a meeting because the meeting room was unusually hot, but they weren’t prepared to take off their one-piece sweaters in public.

If I told you...

2009-07-10T06:16:00.004+08:00

If I told you I love you,
Would it make any difference?

When I go to bed at night,
Would it make you lie in my embrace?

When I wake up in the morning,
Would it make your face the morning sun?

When we walk under the moonlight,
Would you let me hold your hand?

When your dreams turn to nightmares,
Would you let me kill your monsters?

If I told you I love you,
Would it make any difference?

g 2.0

2009-07-09T16:54:00.003+08:00

Conversion road works makers
Ocean and not worry
Anti-abortion myself in the about

Contact lenses worth anti-targeted
Is prepared is of children? An abortion.

Abortionists grasp the PR
Say her hurl on board
Extraordinary of America's reverse that law

The figurehead was wonderful
This change of heart
What caused tells film of having service

It improved movement to have
Yet now happily to prison forces?

Being to rents value inestimable help
To go than adverts for the to

(Leon, Marley & the Guardian)

The Real

2009-07-02T08:09:00.003+08:00

There is something delicious about the way silence invades a big city at night. The power playground of the commercial world is strikingly hollow and maybe even more real with its emptiness revealed. Even in the suburbs the partial views into living rooms seem empty without the sounds and smells that make up family life. The buildings loom and bend into sight with a feeling of hyper-reality.

Maybe this is an echo of something inside me. I’ve come from down town where the people are spilling out of the clubs and pubs into the balmy summer air. Its midweek and they’re delaying returning to an empty bed for as long as possible. Maybe their avoiding their spouses. There’s an aversion to something and a tension in the empty searching look written on their faces.

It’s not about losing touch with reality, but something more post modern. Does reality even matter? Floating free from other people with no responsibility is lonely through its liberation. Disconnected and empty I see someone across the room. The search could be over. It’s too easy to pour my own desires into that empty vase, creating a reality for him. That very action makes him at once ideal and impossible. Flawed before even starting; every attraction is a projection creating cracks in the veneer like a cheap imitation.

Love has become trapped in fantasy. Brought to life for short encounters with such intensity it’s forced to burn out before it becomes real. He told me he loved me. Who can count the number of times they’ve been told that? I’m too old to believe any more. But in the fantasy it’s real.

Sputnik Sweetheart

2009-06-26T19:16:00.007+08:00

"And it came to me then. That we were wonderful travelling companions, but in the end no more than lonely lumps of metal on their separate orbits. From far off they look like beautiful shooting stars, but in reality they're nothing more than prisons, where each of us is locked up alone, going nowhere. When the orbits of these two satellites of ours happened to cross paths, we could be together. Maybe even open our hearts to each other. But that was only for the briefest moment. In the next instant we'd be in absolute solitude. Until we burned up and became nothing."

Sputnik Sweatheart - H Murakami

Bunny Boy

2009-04-27T19:34:00.001+08:00

We called him Electric Bunny Boy. It was a weak reference to the Energiser Bunny TV advertisements of the 1990s, and it nicely captured his dancing style. Yeah, I thought he was cute. But I also wondered if his non-stop high speed gyrating and vibrating dance style would translate well into the bedroom...

The bar closed and we straggled our way onto the street. Bunny Boy was hanging around with his friends. It turned out they were new to London and needed directions to Piccadilly Circus. That's how we got started talking.

The conversation quickly moved on to love, romance and finding a boyfriend. Bunny Boy lamented not having one and he wasn’t doing any more one night stands. This time he was looking for the real thing. I thought my chances of testing my theory were dwindling.

Unfortunately my drinking friend for the night was also new to London. After giving Bunny Boy directions to Piccadilly Circus, we headed off in the other direction to put my friend on a bus home. His bus came quite quickly, which left me the chance to wonder back up to Piccadilly Circus and see how Bunny Boy and friends were getting on.

They were still waiting for their bus! I had assumed they were all going together, to party on in Paddington at someone's flat. But instead, Bunny Boy lived in a different direction. After his friends got on the bus, we grabbed each other and kissed. There was a quiet desperation in his body as he drew me tighter against him. His passionate embrace forced him to step back, sandwiching himself against the wall.

"Do you mind if I join in?"

What the? It seemed a passing partygoer was tired of making his homeward trek alone and was looking for some distraction.

"You both look great. Could I?"

Admittedly, he looked harmless, but I wasn't in the mood for sharing nor starting an orgy adjacent to Piccadilly Circus.

"No. Sorry." I quickly snapped and dragged an incredulous Bunny Boy across the road to safety. It seemed he had made the choice to come home with me after all. We wound our way to the bus stop at Tottenham Court road, constantly interrupted with bouts of passionate kissing and groping...

Denial

2009-04-21T02:19:00.002+08:00

I tell myself I'm not in love.

It's nothing really.

But when the phone rings and it's him, my heart races.

I try to answer the phone calmly, trying not to give anything away. When I hang up the phone, the conversation fades like a dream, as my mind rushes back over it looking for hidden meaning.

But I’m not in love.

Nothing is really going on, I tell myself...

Financial Crisis?

2009-03-06T19:55:00.011+08:00

It is for thoughts like these that I read Prospect magazine. There is a small article on the bottom of page 16 this month that raises an interesting financial point that seems to have been forgotten; let me summarise.

You will all have seen the articles in the news over the years about unsustainable credit usage, usually with some statistic about credit card debt. For example, household debt in the UK has risen from £811bn in 2001 to £1,533bn in 2007. No one seems to point out an even bigger rise in financial assets, which would suggest responsible debt leveraging is going on. The table below shows these numbers for financial assets, and does not include property holdings.

UK Households	2001	2007
Debt	£811bn	£1,533bn
Assets	£2,929bn	£4,043bn
Ratio	27.7%	37.9%

It looks like we have all been responsible spenders after all. Maybe the current down turn is in reaction to an economic boom we are coming out of. Well, turns out that from 2001 to 2007 British GDP grew on average by 2.8% per annum with household consumption growing at 3.1% per annum. Not exactly high numbers and in fact pretty close to average growth rates in the UK for the last 25 years. Not much evidence there for an economic boom.

I guess you could argue that the property price bubble shows at time of economic boom and reckless investing. The rise in property prices seems to be correlated to an increase in the number of households as a whole, as well as an increase in the number of first time buyers, that is people moving into the property market. These sound like reasonable market responses to scarce resources rather than a bubble.

An interesting perspective to ponder...

Dilemma?

2009-02-27T05:57:00.003+08:00

I've been doing a bit of thinking lately, and I realise that I mostly consume. Of course we live in a consumer society, but I don't mean in a material sense. I mean in terms of knowledge, writing, the web, whatever.

The question is, how do I become a producer? What can I produce? And I suppose the big question in the end is how to get noticed.

I know this blog is a small part of producing. And writing seems to be something I can do to a reasonable standard. But this seems like the obvious place to start. What are the other options? I think I need to sleep on it.

Immersive Advertising

2009-02-25T04:47:00.008+08:00

I've been looking at creative options for marketing and communicating when I came across this one. You'll have to go to the Islington Gazette page and take a look for yourself, but basically this guy had himself strapped to a poster of a love heart on Valentine's Day to publicly proclaim his love and subsequently promote MasterCard. I wonder if they gave him a credit card for his efforts? If you are in the Old St area, the poster is still up.

I certainly think this is the future of advertising - creating some sort of immersive customer experience to help people see the world in a new way. Of course, not everyone will agree with that point of view. Charmin is an American brand of toilet paper. They have created a special toilet truck, the Charmin Potty Palooza, which they take to major events where you can try their toiletry products inside for free. Considering the standard toilet on offer at major events, you can see why the Potty Palooza truck is very popular and Charmin hopefully build brand loyalty at the same time. They did something similar in Times Square - see New York Times.

However, I think this technique seems to have been most powerfully used by the Red Cross. (Well, actually, whoever does their advertising). These advertisements were used in the San Francisco Bay area to try and get people to start thinking in advance about what they should be doing before the earthquake hits.

I'm not familiar with San Francisco, but this looks like some sort of ferry terminal on edge of the water. The slogan on the truck reads "What do we have to do to get your attention? Be prepared. Visit redcrossbayarea.org +"

Although I have to admit that the next image freaks me out, and I'm not even there. The Red Cross placed a manikin on the ground at the bas of some stairs, as you can see. It's only when you get closer would you realise it is fake and be able to read the sign: "Would you know what to do?"

HP did something similar to advertise their special papers for printing photos. You can see bigger versions and the "how to?" on the AdLand blog.

I wonder how long it will be before immersive enters the dictionary?

Outlook

2009-02-25T02:15:00.005+08:00

I run my life through Microsoft Outlook. There are other, sometimes even better, options out there; but being a corporate soul Outlook ends up being my tool of choice.

I've made a few productivity improvements over the last year, and thought I should share them. There isn't anything fancy in here, in fact you've probably heard of them already.

Number one rule: at the end of each day my InBox needs to be empty. Each email is either deleted, filed away or converted into a task item or appointment item. I used to try and track my life through my InBox. Not a good idea, as you can't see due dates and you end up relying on other people's subject lines.

When I create tasks, I put the next action in the task title. For example, "IBM job application | find resume".

Finally, when I plan out my day or week I drag the task items from my task list onto my calender. This allows me to allocate time to each task. I try to keep my calendar roughly up to date with what I've been up to, so I can reflect on my week later.

I'm also using some keyboard shortcuts in Outlook. I got them from LifeHacker. The article also talks about setting up a total messages counter, rather than just the unread counter, which I recommend. I don't use the shortcut icons or quick parts, but you may find them useful.

Another set of tools that I find quite useful for setting back a level are available at David Seah's site. He has a number of tracking tools that use Excel - much easier than Project. You can see a screenshot of my own monthly plan in this blog post. It gives me sense of what I have on over the next little while and provides low level planning detail. From all the red/pink you can see I'm doing a lot of Mandarin study at the moment, and in May I'll be doing a month course in CELTA, the grey blob. (More on that in another post). David also has Gannt chart style templates if you prefer that.

I'm going to start working my way through David Allen's Getting Things Done methodology over the next few weeks. I'll let you know if I figure out anything new.

Only Child

2008-12-01T05:58:00.002+08:00

I just finished reading South of the Border, West of the Sun – Haruki Murakami. It’s a story about love, relationships and a midlife crisis. But what sticks out for me is the protagonist, Hajime, is an only child and Murakami has elegantly put into words thing I’ve always bumped into as an only child.

Izumi is Hajime’s girlfriend. What she has to say makes me wonder about some of my previous relationships:

“You prefer to think things over all by yourself and you don’t like people looking inside your head. Maybe that’s because you’re an only child. You’re used to thinking and acting alone. You figure that as you understand something, that’s enough” She shook her head. “And that makes me afraid. I feel abandoned.”

Only child. I hadn’t heard those words in a long while. In elementary school the words had hurt me. But Izumi was using them in a different sense. Her “only child” didn’t mean a pampered, spoiled kid but spoke to my isolated ego, which kept the world at arm’s length.

And much later, Hajime reflects on the sort of person he is:

“I always feel as if I’m struggling to become someone else. As if I’m trying to find a new place, grab hold of a new life, a new personality. I suppose it’s part of growing up, yet it’s also an attempt to re-invent myself. By becoming a different me, I could free myself of everything. I seriously believed I could escape myself – as long as I made the effort. But I always hit a dead end. No matter where I go, I still end up me. What’s missing never changes. The scenery may change, but I’m still the same old incomplete person. The same missing elements torture me with a hunger that I can never satisfy. I think that lack itself is as close as I’ll come to defining myself.”

And from Terry Eagleton’s book After Theory:

"We are a not-yet rather than a now. Our life is one of desire, which hollows our existence to the core. If freedom is of our essence, then we are bound to give the slip to any exhaustive definition of ourselves."

Graphic Design

2008-10-15T16:44:00.007+08:00

What have I been up to lately? Well... way too much to be putting in a short blog post. What I will say is that I am in week 2 of a graphic design course at Central St Martins. As part of this course we have been encouraged to start an image diary, and since I'm only keeping digital images I thought I might as well share them with the wider world while I'm at it.

I'd like to do an image every day, but chances are I'll be lucky to have a weekly one.

I saw this advertisement not far from my house on the way to my weekly shop. The desperation really shouts out to me. It seems to have been hurriedly done with a biro pen, and then the realisation that a black marker would be easier to read came as an after thought. Was it taped up first and then written? And a sense of exasperation: without a photo and a vague description that matches half the dogs in my area, I don't think there is much chance of this nameless pooch being returned.

How to Cheer in China

2008-06-09T17:06:00.002+08:00

The Prospect Magazine Blog has a fun post today. China is promoting a particular cheer they want their supporters to use at the Olympics: http://blog.prospectblogs.com/2008/06/08/how-to-cheer-in-china/ Apparently "the cheer was [designed] in line with general international principles for cheering." Was that in a subpart of the Geneva convention I wasn't aware of?

You Get What You Pay For

2008-05-14T17:55:00.004+08:00

Some recent research at INSEAD seems to support this idea. Obviously, as per usual, more studies will need to be done. But here is what they did:

Participants were told that they were testing a new painkiller similar to codeine with a faster onset time, but were actually given a placebo pill. Half of the participants were informed that the drug was priced at $2.50 per pill, while the other half were informed that the drug had been discounted to $0.10 per pill.
Following an established approach for studying pain, two sets of electric shocks were administered to the participants - one to establish pain threshold before taking the placebo, and one after. The result: those who consumed the more expensive placebo were able to handle more pain.

A similar approach was undertaken by giving participants an energy drink, with a variable price, and then asking them to undertake a handful of mental tasks. Again, the drink perceived as more expensive allowed participants to perform better.

“Marketing variables not only influence people’s perceptions and expectations, they actually influence the real efficacy of products such as medications.”

INSEAD Knowledge Brief: More expensive medication may be more potent
Ruminating About Placebo Effects of Marketing Actions

Coffee: Scooterworks

2008-05-03T17:22:00.003+08:00

There is something about Scooterworks. It's certainly popular, has a great vibe and now on Fridays you can listen to a live accordion player. Not in a cheesy way, but actually quite pleasant tunes. Partly it has to be the out of the way location, where you can pretend to know a London secret.

They seem to have snuck in a license and a bar, which means they are open until 11pm on Fridays. I hadn't noticed that in the past.

Scooterworks was originally a small shop selling & repairing scooters. They put in a fantastic coffee machine and obviously have some skill at using it. People soon realised this little mechanics shop was serving an awesome coffee, and started coming by to be lubricated by the coffee rather than a grease & oil change. Realising they were onto a good thing, the owners moved the mechanical part of the business elsewhere and turned their little workshop into an Italian cafe.

PS I've heard it was used for a scene in the Bourne Identity or one of the movies in that series.

For an authentic coffee experience:
www.scooterworks-uk.com
132 Lower Marsh St
London SE1 7AE

Movie: Sakuran

2008-03-27T21:22:00.006+08:00

Sakuran is both visually stunning and a fascinating look into the red light district of historical Japan (mid 1800s?). It feels a lot more realistic and doesn't have the fairy tale style of Memoirs of a Geisha.

We follow the story of a young girl, Tomeki, being sold to a brothel in the Yoshinura red light district. But to use the word brothel just doesn't seem right. Everything we see is lavish, bright and clean. These are places where men come to feel like emperors and to be entertained by courtesans that could be princesses. It doesn't feel or look like the sleazy back streets we might imagine.

Tomeki is feisty and makes her way up through the ranks of prostitutes, hommeki, to become number one, Oiran. In this position of power, and with the men lined up to see her, she is able to pick and choose her customers. Of course the more wealthy and powerful customers don't like losing face, and you can start to imagine some of the scenarios in the movie.

Sakuran doesn't glorify being a prostitute. It shows all the politics, infighting, and of course the precarious management of emotions. Symbolically, the hommeki are like ornate gold fish in a beautiful bowl. Free the gold fish from it's bowl and place it in the river, and you all you have is an ugly carp. Whilst life as a hommeki might not be wonderful, it is seen as better than fending for yourself out in the real world. (Not my opinion, but the initial one of the movie).

Of course there is a happy ending, but I won't spoil it here.

3 out of 5 stars

Dance: Insane in the Brain

2008-03-27T21:22:00.004+08:00

Insane in the Brain is a street dance version of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, done by Bounce Street Dance Company. I think this is a good example of how dance can transcend language to communicate ideas, thoughts, feelings and dreams much more succinctly.

The plot is basically an exploration of what it might be like to be confined to a psychiatric hospital. Okay, that's simplifying things a bit, but this supposed to be a speedy review :)

There is a lovely contrast between the formality of the staff, along with the ballet lessons they force on the inmates, and the open expressiveness that the hip hop sequences allow. You'll have to imagine people leaping on, over and around their hospital beds. And a great electroshock therapy scene which has appropriate flailing.

The music featured Missy Elliot, Dizzee Rascal, Gotan Project, David Holmes and Cypress Hill.

4 out of 5 stars

Insane in the Brain was showing at the Peacock Theatre

Theatre: The Homecoming

2008-02-25T19:16:00.004+08:00

Okay, I'm just not keeping up with this blogging diary thing idea. This on the one hand is a good thing, because it means I’m busy. Ages ago now, I went to see The Homecoming. I didn't really know how to react at the time, but let me see if I can collect my thoughts.

The Homecoming is a play by Harold Pinter, written in 1964. It was clearly designed to shock, and in 1964 it probably did. In 2008 it feels anachronistic. It felt like I was watching a classic piece of historical theatre, extremely well performed, but it just lacked the punch it would have had 40 odd years ago. Whilst many of the themes it touches on still apply today, albeit in slightly different ways, the historical setting made it hard to think about the content critiquing the present.

I won't bore you with the synopsis, especially if you do end up going to see it - I don't want to spoil the ending for you :) But other than the shock element the only other angle I've been able to come up with is the Madonna-whore complex.

The Madonna-whore complex is a Freudian idea. Basically some men end up marrying women who are similar to their mothers, looking to resolve the unmet intimacy from their childhood. The problem being that the wife ends up being seen as a mother figure (a Madonna figure) by the husband, which puts and end to their sex life. Sex ends up being reserved for "bad" or "dirty" women, the whore. And hence the husband sets up scenarios or acts out phantasies in which in he can turn his wife into a whore in order to revive their sex life.

The Madonna-whore complex is a dilemma where men may feel unable to love any women that can satisfy them sexually and are unable to be sexually satisfied by any women that they can love. Most of the men in The Homecoming seem to be engulfed by this complex in one way or another.

4 out of 5 stars

The Homecoming was showing at the Almedia Theatre

Movie: Barry Lyndon

2008-02-25T19:15:00.005+08:00

Stanley Kubrick has created probably most the diverse set of movies of any director. Over quite some time now I've been working through all of his movies. Barry Lyndon I've been waiting to see in a cinema to appreciate the cinematography.

Kubrik was able to use lenses made by Zeiss for NASA for the Apollo moon landings. Some scenes are only lit by candles with an average of three candlepower. Whilst not all shots are free from supplementary lighting, they are all designed to be as natural as possible mimicing the style of 18th century paintings. It is lovely to watch - very easy on the eyes.

Otherwise, the movie tells the rise and fall of an Irish lad, Barry Redmond. He start life fairly poor, has adventures in the Prussian wars, manages to marry into wealth, but through his own mismanagment ends up poor again.

4 out of 5 stars

Movie: Kiki's Delivery Service

2008-02-25T19:15:00.003+08:00

Okay, so I went to see another children's movie. But I'm quite a fan of Studio Ghibli and Hayao Miyazaki's work. This is just a nice story set in a time of airships. It is a coming of age story about a young trainee witch moving to a new town to complete her training and how she is slowly accepted by the townspeople there.

Unlike so many other witch stories where magical powers are seen as evil, or an ultimate power to be attained/fought over, here they are portrayed as fragile and symbolic of the talent which lies in each of us. I guess the underlying moral is about how many things in life need on-going nurturing - old or new - if they are to blossom and bloom.

Miyazaki is simply superb at creating long wistful shots of scenery, and particularly the ocean. I came out of the theatre feeling like I had spent an hour or so at a seaside town.

4 out of 5 stars

Movie: Azur & Asmar

2008-02-25T19:14:00.006+08:00

This is really a kids movie in so many ways, but it is rare to see such beautiful artwork in a 2D animation. Okay, okay, I'm sure there are other examples out there but by placing the story in North Africa allowed the exploration of Islamic art and an amazing use of colour.

The story follows the lives of two young children brought up by a nursemaid: Azur, a blonde, blue-eyed son of a noble and Asmar, the dark skinned and dark-eyed child of the nurse. One day Azur's father banishes the nursemaid, along with Asmar and sends Azur to boarding school. After growing up Azur is haunted by childhood stories of a fairy in a far away land, leading him to embark on a journey to find her and win her hand in marriage.

Like many children's stories there is a clear moral message, which is mostly about accepting differences in other people especially when they are from different cultures. Whilst I thought the message was quite clear, interestingly the children in the audience didn't quite pick up on it in the same way - they seemed to prefer imitating the belligerent xenophobe.

3 out of 5 stars

BookSlam

2008-02-25T19:14:00.004+08:00

I can never make up my mind if I like Book Slam or not. I think I like the idea of mixing with literary types in a night club setting, but I can't help the feeling of drowning in bourgeois ickiness. These days I only tend to go when a particularly famous author will be speaking.

Will Self seems to be a bundle of contradictions. I had no idea what to expect, but was quite surprised to find someone claiming he is shy, yet speaking with a clear booming steady voice. And this is just one simple example that springs to mind.

I have to admit to not reading any of Will Self's books, but I immensely enjoy his odd ball English sense of humour and delicious use of words. I'm still not sure I'll read any of his books; I'm afraid I'll disappear into a puff of over intellectualism.

You can find an expurgated version of the night here: Book Slam 4 MP3

Movie: PS I Love You

2008-01-28T18:43:00.010+08:00

PS I Love You is just more Hollywood style schmaltz that always seems to sell. Although I have to admit I did find this movie entertaining.

The story follows Holly, who is piecing her life together after the death of her husband Gerry. Knowing that his cancer was terminal, Gerry arranged for a number of letters to be sent after his death to try and help Holly move on with her life. The randomness of these letters allows the plot to leap off in different directions quite suddenly and unexpectedly, in what doesn't always seem to be terribly realistic, but hey it's a movie.

The serious question of whether Gerry's letter writing behaviour is actually appropriate is raised only briefly by Holly's mother and isn't really resolved. I guess the film ends up condoning it, but it isn't something I would recommend in real life. Which may be why the rebuilding of the relationship between Holly and her mother was much more touching for me than Holly's slow journey away from Gerry.

2 out 5 stars

Movie: Aliens vs Predator - Requiem

2008-01-28T18:43:00.009+08:00

The first Aliens vs Predator movie really appealed to me. I think it was the combination of interesting and new ideas (to me anyway) combined with the shortness of the movie. This sort of hack and slash the aliens are coming to get us style movie can't really be sustained for a long time easily, unless you have one of those rare directors who is a master of suspense. Unfortunately Requim was too long, with not enough real plot to sustain a movie of its length.

Additionally, the risky thing with a movie like this is the legion of fans out there who are bound to know more about the Aliens and Predators than you would imagine. (Remember those Star Trek fans who went out and learnt to speak Klingon!) There were moments in Requim which had me thinking "Is that right?" I'm no expert, but I think they may have made some errors in the portrayal of both the Aliens and the Predator.

The other key factor of the first movie is that it never answers the question as to whether the Aliens or Predators are the more powerful race. I don't tihnk Requium preserves things quite so nicely.

Aliens vs Predator - Requim doesn't really do anything you wouldn't have seen before. It's a shame, considering the punchiness of the first one. I guess there probably won't be a third one now.

2 out of 5 stars

Lunch: Aji Ajo

2008-01-28T18:43:00.006+08:00

The best thing about Aji Ajo was that we were the only two people in there, which is strange for London where it's normal to have to fight for a seat. I think this is mostly because Aji Ajo is slightly outside of the China Town/Leicester square eatery area and it's also quite new.

We didn't get off to a brilliant start as our waitress was clearly bored and preferrd to play on her Ninentedo DS than serve us. On the upside the food was all freshly cooked and presented quickly to us from the kitchen. The quality though was variable. Some of the ingredients were slightly more past their prime than I would expect from similar restaurants in London. This is kind of a big issue if you are serving sashimi and other Japanese dishes which are essentially based on a cuisinei of freshness. Hopefully as they get more busy this problem will dissapear by itself.

2 out of 5 stars

Charing Cross Road, London

Dinner: Fishcotheque

2008-01-27T19:48:00.002+08:00

Eating at Fishcotheque is a bit like stepping back in time, maybe to around the 60s in London. Although I'm not sure that in the 60's the staff would have been Polish. Fishcotheque has appeared few times on lists of London's best fish and chip shops. Although, having eaten there, it worries me that this could be the near the pinnacle. Maybe I don't understand traditional fish and chips...

I used to think of lasagne as being about the meat and the sauce, with the pasta just giving form and texture. My first really traditional lasagne had me eating mostly pasta with the tiniest amounts of meat and sauce. So, is the traditional deep fried fish mostly about thick chunky batter and oil, and not about the fish at all?

I won't be going back, not because the food was hideous, but rather there are plenty of places offering fish and chips of this standard in London. The decor is cute, kitsch and fairly retro which adds come charm to the place. But the hunt for the best fish and chips in London must continue...

2 out of 5 stars

79a Waterloo Road, SE1 8UD

Movie: Kenny

2008-01-25T17:56:00.002+08:00

Kenny is an Australian movie shot in mockumentary style. It's supposed to be funny, although I think to understand all of the gags you'll need to be familiar with Australian humour.

I think Kenny reinforces the stereotypes people have of Australians as a lovable, not too bright, party hard, harmless bunch. Like most stereotypes there is an element of truth but also it suffers from the usual problems of generalisations.

2 out of 5 stars

Mime: Dead Wedding by Faulty Optic and Mira Calix

2008-01-23T06:35:00.000+08:00

The puppetry in this show is just lovely. The tragic nature of the love story of Orpheus and Eurydice felt very tangible. Dead Wedding picks up the story sometime after the end of the Greek myth, but there are flashbacks filling you in on the back story. This new addition is told creatively and explores some aspects of Greek myth in a very original and humorous way.

There is something endearing about puppets, and especially sad ones. Whilst the puppeteers never really "disappeared" for me, I enjoyed seeing them as the strings making it all work. The set is simple but it works well, and is augmented with the use of multimedia projections.

The downside for me was the length. There wasn't enough content to really fill 80 minutes, and the show could do with some tight editing. It wasn't always clear to me what was going on, but I guess that's one of the hazards of mime.

Live music (viola, clarinet and cello) and sound effects by Mira Calix were at times amazing and at times lacklustre.

3 out of 5 stars

Showing at the Barbican until Jan 26.

Snack: The Parlour at Sketch

2008-01-20T05:56:00.000+08:00

I'm in love with the Parlour at Sketch. Even when they are having a bad day, I still come away with smile - except those days when they are full :(

All of the pastries are magnificent, but I recommend you try the house specialities. If their not too busy your waitress will guide you through the cake counter. I'm slowly working my way down the list. The accompanying teas are also wonderful, although I find it interesting that the tea menu is heavily weighted towards green and white teas. The Ayurveda teas are refreshing in both taste and in being different from the norm.

If you go, make sure you make your way to the toilet section. I say section, because the area put aside for ablutions is as large as many cafes in London and, as you will find, it is very unique.

4 out of 5 stars

9 Conduit Street, Mayfair, London, W1S 2XG

Lunch: Wahaca

2008-01-20T03:43:00.000+08:00

Went back to Wahaca today for lunch. I think it was the fresh, colourful and relaxed atmosphere that drew back. Along with a desire to try their mole.

It was good. Really good. The mole sauce was rich but refined with a nice hint of spice. We ate far too much food but the bill only came to £30 for two including drinks. Much more reasonable than the street food tapas style section of the menu.

I'll be back.

4 out of 5 stars

66 Chandos Place, Covent Garden WC2N 4HG

Tip: for a weekend lunch, try to arrive before 1pm to save yourself from queueing.

Stars

2008-01-19T17:55:00.000+08:00

I'm starting to feel a bit strange about the whole stars thing. It is like I am walking through the world sticking gold stars on things, trying to indicate some level of merit, and yet who am I to really decide these things? And how can a dance piece be compared to a coffee house?

I'm going to keep the stars for a bit longer while I think it over...

1 star out of 5

Exhibit: Sleeping & Dreaming

2008-01-18T18:08:00.000+08:00

Currently on at the Wellcome Collection, near Euston, this exhibit tries to cover quite a breadth of thinking about sleep. Everything from sleep deprivation, how to get more sleep or less sleep, dreams, what is sleep for, what happens if we don't sleep, and on the list goes. The exhibit beings by telling us we don't really know that much about sleep, and by the end of the exhibit I'm not sure I feel much different. Each of the topics is dealt with in a dry academic manner, with lovely examples and exhibits, but hardly any depth of knowledge is presented.

If you are new to sleep research, or perhaps you have children, this may be worth dropping by. Certainly the layout and presentation is of usual the high standard the Wellcome Collection use.

3 out of 5 stars

Exhibit runs until 9 March 2008

Dance: Triple Bill of Hiroaki Umeda/S20

2008-01-16T05:58:00.000+08:00

Hiroaki Umeda is currently presenting a triple bill of his work at the Barbican: Duo, Montevideoaki and while going to a condition.

What I want is to transmit sensations, rather than messages, to the audience. Therefore there are no conceptual themes in my shows, which I empty of everything that might constitute a meaning.
I perceive sounds of daily life as sounds without information, and this is what interests me.
(Hiroaki Umeda)

The sounds we are immersed in are the sharp, harsh and artificial sounds of a contemporary industrial age. Umeda appears on stage in what I would describe as black silk pajamas; combined with his shaved head he reminds me of the Yakuza. His dance movements can be rhythmical and repetitive to match the machine like sounds, or they are a combination of fluidity and violent jerks. He seems well versed in contemporary dance moves.

The backdrop is made of two giant projection screens - one the mirror image of the other. The projections are used interactively to create play of images updated from the live performance in Duo, to show the video Montevideoaki and finally as a background of moving light for while going to a condition. This use of what is essentially multimedia gives the triple bill a very modern, almost futuristic, feel.

3 out of 5 stars.
(Umeda is very good at what he does, but this just isn't my thing).

Showing at the Barbican until 19 January 2008.

My Landlord: Musical Taste

2008-01-16T05:36:00.000+08:00

Some of you will have heard about my landlord already. He is British through and through. When I first met him he used to annoy me to death, but now I find his foibles create amusing stories that I can share with others.

He's a jazz pianist and has a number of CD's out in the easy listening or smooth jazz category. Lately though he is in the remixing business. I think it has something to do with turning 50 this year...

His latest CD takes all of the Sound of Music classics and remixes them into familiar but dull dance music. I think it's great he has a CD out there on the market - that's more than I have. However, quite a few times I've come home to find him and his boyfriend listening to it at a level loud enough to block conversation. Once or twice and I could label it as taking pride in his work. Although at the number of times I've caught him at it, I've decided it's really a sign of vanity and narcissism.

Snack: Nordic Bakery

2008-01-12T20:12:00.001+08:00

The Nordic Bakery is fun. It is certainly different from the chain coffee stores you can so easily find around London. And the smell of freshly backed cinnamon buns that hits you as soon as you walk in the door is always amazing. The walls have been panelled with wood a la chic sauna, the crockery is Iittala, and generally the place seems to have a good Nordic well designed feel to it.

I've had to go back a few times to make up my mind if I like this place or not. I guess that should have been a sign in itself. The food just isn't up to scratch. Nothing wrong with the drinks - they've been fine every time (I love the strong coffee). The ginger cake was too dry, the Karelian pies a bit too rich, the cheese and gherkin sandwiches on display too long, the cinnamon buns were not cooked all the way through, and all could be forgivable but the prices for these snacks are a little on the high side in my opinion.

2 out of 5 stars

14 Golden Square London

Cabaret: Bearlesque

2008-01-12T19:44:00.000+08:00

Just quickly for those of you who don't know: a bear is a gay man who takes pride in the fact that he is hairy (chest and/or back, beard etc) in contrast to the stereotypical hairless gay man, and quite often a bear is a bit overweight.

This was a fun evening. We were all crammed into the small cabaret space at Bristrotheque, out near Bethnal Green, for the opening night of Bearlesque. The atmosphere was supportive and fun as the bear troop leaped around the stage performing "Stripping in the Rain", "Splash Dance", "Can't Get Bears Out of My Head" and "Vogue" to name a few, before ending the night with the Can-can.

It was good to be off the west end and seeing something organic and different. Go with a sense of humor and a fun frame of mind and you'll have a ball.

4 out of 5 stars

Showing at Bistrotheque until 2 Feb. 2008

Theatre: Statement of Regret

2008-01-09T07:33:00.000+08:00

This was an accelerated lesson in modern black politics in the UK for me. Powerful performances all round as the leader of a black political think tank is unable to cope with the grief of losing his own father. His grief gets mixed in with the grief he faces in everyday life as a black man and what is essentially post traumatic slave syndrome.

I'm still digesting all of this, but it is clear to me that we have barely started to heal the world of all the painful things we have done to ourselves (let alone the planet).

There's a statement that says "I am not who I think I am, and I am not who you think I am - I am who you think that I think that I am". If you are surrounded by people that believe themselves to be less, inevitable you have to feel yourselves to be less. It's that pervasive secret that lies in the background: no matter what I do I'm never going to be enough, I'm never going to be worthy, I'm never going to be loved. And that is something that the world says constantly - you're not enough, you're underachieving, you're testing lower. It's called Learned Helplessness: after a point, people say it doesn't matter what I do. So I'm stuck in this condition. (Dr Joy Leary)

4 out of 5 stars

Statement of Regret is on at the Cottesloe Theatre at the National until 6 February 2008.

Snack: Maison Bertaux Cafe

2008-01-07T07:01:00.000+08:00

I used to love Maison Bertraux. It was quirky, French, with excellent tea and pastries, and yes it was a bit expensive, but it was fun. Unfortunately the level of service has dropped of dramatically.

They have always had a reputation for being a bit on the rude side, but I could handle that when it came through a thick French accent - it seemed to add to the authenticity. The cafe now seems to be staffed by the latest wave of immigrants, and the rudeness just seems part of the blase service which is so common across London. Being brushed up the wrong way makes all the other annoying things stand out so much more (dirty tables, stained table clothes, clunky furniture).

2 out of 5 stars

28 Greek Street, Soho London, W1D 5DD

Tourist: Windsor Castle

2008-01-06T05:15:00.001+08:00

I'm so glad I've been to Windsor Castle. I came away thinking "Hey, this royal family thing can actually be cool." I found Buckingham Palace to be a bit of a disappointment, but now I understand that was just the office. Windsor Castle is the real home of the English Royals.

The collection of art, furniture, ceramics, armour and other countless treasures is truly amazing. Each room feels like you are in a royal palace, and a tasteful and impressive one at that.

Big tip: go in Winter. There was hardly anyone there, which means no queueing!

4 out of 5 stars.

Movie: Half Moon (Niwemang)

2008-01-06T04:53:00.000+08:00

This is a movie about journeys. Mamo is taking is his ten sons on a road trip from Iran to Iraq. Every single one of them is a talented musician, and when they arrive they will play in a Kurdish concert which has previously banned until the fall of Saddam Hussein. There are also the personal journeys of the characters of the film and we also see a nation on a journey - hopefully of healing and recovery.

The movie is littered with symbols but is essentially told in a simple straightforward manner. It might have benefited from some tighter editing, but then again this journey was always going to be a long one which is not yet finished.

Insightful.

3 out of 5 stars.

Food: The India Club

2008-01-05T08:18:00.001+08:00

This is a little bit of a London secret. The India Club is located not far from Aldwych and is barely signposted. Going upstairs I found myself in a very plain canteen like eatery. I have to admit to not understanding much of the menu. It turns out that the Indian food I know is North Indian, and the India Club specialises in South Indian. Sag aloo and mattar paneer are North Indian. Masala dhosa, rassam and bhindi are examples of South Indian food.

The quality of the food was homely, and warm, and matched the relatively cheap price tag. Quite fun, and excellent for vegetarians.

3 out of 5 stars

Movie: The Kite Runner

2008-01-05T07:41:00.000+08:00

I really enjoyed the sweet nature of this movie. It is simple but meaningful and told in a beautiful way. This is the story of a friendship, a family, a culture, and the country they all come from.

I am sure the book is more touching than the movie, but I haven't cried so much in ages. Then again, I was quite moody the evening I saw it.

It was also good to see to a reasonably clear although shortened version of the recent history of Afghanistan - unfortunatley minus the American involvement.

3 stars out of 5

Movie: Lust, Caution

2008-01-03T08:30:00.000+08:00

It's taken me a while to get around to writing this review, as I found it hard to get a clear idea of what I thought. I found the visuals, the way the story unfolds and the building tension very seductive. Almost too seductive, but it all makes for a beautiful film to watch.

The storyline is not a new one, although I can't recall the previous movie which used a very similar base story. We learn very little about all of the characters, and this is partly because it is a play within a play. Even though this is a tragic love story, I doubt anyone will shed a tear. It's more like the good sex in a holiday affair, which leaves you yearning for more although you know that it's over and you can never go back...

The sex scenes are vibrant, appropriate and fit the story well. I don't quite understand the media interest in the sex scenes, as I am sure they are not the most erotic scenes to hit main stream cinema. I hope it breathes new life into the way the Orient is perceived when it comes to sex.

The messages from this film are more about friendship and love than national pride. I don't agree that one of the messages is the only way to power for women is through intercourse.

I look forward to seeing it again.

4 out of 5 stars

Food: St John

2008-01-03T08:19:00.000+08:00

I ate too much... again... Good hearty meat based fare, with what appeared to be reasonable vegetarian options although we didn't try any of those.

We enjoyed bone marrow salad, salted & dried pig's liver, smoked eel, and of course roast beef. Remember to leave room for dessert, which was equally amazing and along traditional english cooking lines (in a good way).

4 out of 5

Movie: Bee Movie

2008-01-02T16:31:00.000+08:00

Not quite a kid's movie, not quite an adult's movie. Although relatively entertaining if you don't think about it too much. Anthropomorphises bees by balancing up the sexes, whereas in real life most bees are female worker bees (yes, including the pollen jocks!) except for a handful of male bee drones which are used specifically for mating. Interesting moral showing the competing values of standing up for your own rights versus seeing your role as part of a bigger system. Not really a Western individualism versus Eastern collectivism but more of an environmental angle that we are part of a giant ecosystem.

2 out of 5 stars

Food: Wahaca

2008-01-02T16:03:00.000+08:00

Eventually made it in to this overly popular new Mexican haunt in Covent Garden. Previous attempts had me waiting for over 45 minutes for a table. Having now eaten at what can only be described as Tex Mex food, I wouldn't wait more than 10 minutes for a table here. We stuck to the "street" food tapas style section of the menu. The food was fresh and light, but most of the flavour came from the sauces and not the meat. The textures of each dish were almost identical except for the differentiating base (taco - soft, tostadas - crunchy). Atmoshphere was bright, colourful and noisey with the place full of modern hard surfaces.

2 out of 5

Renovations

2007-09-10T21:02:00.001+08:00

There is strange addiction to renovations in this part of the world. I'm writing this while a machine outside my front window loudly chugs away, destroying the back street quietness... Hang on - there is no such thing as back street quietness in London any more. The main roads are so clogged with traffic these days, that even the side roads have trucks speeding down them trying to make up for lost time. But, that's a story for another time.

A few months ago my landlord called me, to warn of a hole in the ceiling. It would have been quite comical if it wasn't my own bed just below the hole. Apparently the team of builders upstairs accidentally put their foot through the ceiling whilst replacing the floorboards. There has been some delay while the builders located someone they thought was good enough to do the repair. Having seen the repair, I think their interpretation of good enough means cheap enough. Why the renovations? Judging by the recent for sale sign that went up this week, my guess is they are doing it up to sell...

Next door where Sue lives is a beautiful house. It was designed and decorated immaculately, as you would expect of the architect couple that lived there. But the recent new owners decided no, it wasn't good enough and have removed everything that can possibly be removed and are implementing their own design.

This seems to be the case with so many houses in the richer parts of the city. Every street has a house undergoing internal reconstruction. And it isn't because they are old and falling apart. People appear to buy for the location, hate the house, and so are compelled to redesign everything.

I thought maybe this was a recent thing; part of the wealth that is flooding into London these days. But watching a mini-series on the weekend, set in the 1970s, the families in that show were doing exactly the same thing!

"Don't touch the banister dear. You don't know who's touched it. We better get it replaced. And that wall too, while we are at it."

Success

2007-07-15T06:01:00.001+08:00

What does it mean to be successful? There are probably a million answers to this question, but I came across one the other day that seems quite workable: Nash & Stevenson “Success that Lasts” Harvard Business Review Onpoint (Summer 2007): 116-125.

The first premise is to break success down into four basic areas: happiness, achievement, legacy and significance.

Happiness: comes from feelings of pleasure or contentment about your life. This is about making sure you are having fun.
Achievements: are accomplishments that compare favourably against similar goals others have strived for.
Legacy: is a way to establish values or accomplishments to help others find future success.
Significance: is the sense that you’ve made a positive impact on people you care about.

In turn, each of these can be looked at on personal, family, work and community levels. Individual categorisations will of course differ. Going to university may be an achievement goal for one person. However, if you are the first person in your family to go to university it might be a significance goal from the way you made your parents proud.

In order to feel successful, the authors argue that you need to score in each of the four areas in a balanced manner. If things are out of balance, you might consider yourself successful, but you won’t feel satisfied. The way to achieve this is to ensure you don’t doggedly follow one goal, but rather accomplish just enough to put down one task and move on to another. Additionally, some goals may even sit across more than one area, for example learning a musical instrument could bring happiness (pleasure), achievement (mastery) and significance (playing at charity concerts).

It is quite easy to map your own goals and activities out like this, and it places them into a larger context. So, you can stop measuring your job solely in terms of how happy it makes you or business success simply in terms of achievement and mastery. This sort of mapping can also show where maybe you expect achievement goals to bring happiness, which of course won’t work.

Some food for thought. I’ve already noticed that my four areas are out of balance...

Some thoughts on Pan’s Labyrinth

2007-06-18T20:04:00.000+08:00

This is a graphically violent and sad movie. It is set in the mid 1940s during the Spanish civil war. The fascists have the upper hand and they have moved into the local mansion, which is surrounded by forest. It is in this forest the communist rebels seek protection and perform guerrilla style raids on the fascist army. The captain of the fascists has recently become married and the movie starts with the arrival of his newly pregnant wife to the mansion, along with her daughter from her previous marriage. The story follows the life of the young daughter, as she tries to deal with the grief over her father’s death, her mother’s marriage to the captain and the horrors of war. The name of the young daughter, Ofelia, is clearly a reference to Shakespeare’s paly Hamlet; both of these stories have quite a number of plot elements in common.

Pan’s Labyrinth weaves a number of related threads together. In the foreground is Ofelia’s escape from reality into the land of fairy tales. As the story progresses these fairytale daydreams start to take on an increasingly macabre twist as the brutality of life is forced upon her. Pan’s Labyrinth will probably be remembered for these fantasy scenes. They show incredible creativity and ingenuity at bringing to life some of the classic European fairytale characters.

The background story of the civil war and the middle story of relationships are much weaker story lines. The civil war is presented graphically, violently and somewhat simplistically. The audience is forced to side with the communist rebels, not because of any redeeming qualities but simply because they are portrayed less horrifically than the fascist side. Whilst the level of violence probably accurately reflects some of the practices that occurred during the civil war, I am not convinced of the need to portray then with a high level of graphic detail. This simplistic brutal approach takes away the opportunity to raise war, in particular civil wars and their political context, and ask some harder questions about their form, necessity and ultimately the warring nature of humanity itself.

Relationships in Pan’s Labyrinth are portrayed as doomed to failure. Every relationship presented ends in the death of one of the parties involved. The only enduring relationship is that of the fairytale king and queen. I couldn’t fathom why the director has chosen to portray relationships in this light, nor what the potential resolution might be.

There is probably a lot more that could be said about Pan’s Labyrinth, but I am going to stop after these cursory notes. This movie achieves more than the vacuous Hollywood flicks many of us are used to. Amongst the many awards it has recieved, the set of Acadamy awards most accurately reflect this movie's strengths: Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography and Best Makeup.

Unfortunately, the weaknesses in the overall storyline are not sufficiently rescued by the creative fantasy sequences, which will result in this movie fading into the mists of time.

Gourmet Dining in London

2007-06-12T20:19:00.000+08:00

Some of you may know about the World’s 50 Best Restaurants. For me, it has been our guide for eating our way through London’s top restaurants. I’m excited, because we’ve just booked to eat lunch at Hakkasan (No. 19) in a couple of weeks. It also means I will have eaten at all the Asian restaurants in London which have managed to gain Michelin stars (Nahm and Yauatcha being the other two).

This led me to reflect back on some of our past dining experiences. The Fat Duck (No. 2) still stands out above all of the other dining experiences. I was looking at the photos from the Fat Duck and with the bizarre nature of the dishes I actually can’t recognise half of the stuff that we ate!

Nobu (No. 17) was the first lunch without David to take the photos. I always forget to take any pictures once the food arrives. Maybe that’s an excuse to go back? A great dining experience, as much from the food as the professional nature of the staff, who had to manage an over the top Russian gentleman who decided to take his shirt off and bare his hairy to chest to the young lady at the next table!

Gordon Ramsay’s (No. 24) flagship on Royal Hospital Road was the kind of meal that I would describe as luxury comfort food. Again, everything was perfect but the food concepts presented were well within expected boundaries. This might be my favourite, simply because I don’t always want to be challenged by the existential nature of food and its preparation.

That leaves us with La Gavroche (No. 28), St John (No. 34) and River Cafe (No. 44) from this year’s list.

(The numbers in the brackets come from this years rankings).

Slog

2007-06-08T00:27:00.000+08:00

Just a quick post. I really need to get my act together and write some proper blog posts. I've been so slow to update this blog; maybe I should call it a slog instead {groan}.

I've set myself up on FaceBook. If you haven't got yourself an account go and check it out. It is a combination of friendster and myspace that seems to really work.

Here's a quick list of what I've been up to so far this year:

Trip to Marrakech - nightmare!
Trip to Amsterdam - small but beautiful
Rhonda (my cousin) and Shannon came to visit - good to see you guys
David moved to Singapore - I miss having him around
Ate at Nobu - world famous Japanese cuisine
Ate at Archipelago - scorpion, peacock and insects
Sing-a-long Sound of Music - audience participation
Equus - brilliant play, with or without the naked Daniel Radcliffe
Japanese Anime: Karas, Paprika
Salsa lessons - still can't dance
Movies: Solaris, An Inconvenient Truth, La Grande Bouffe, Life is Sweet, Irreversible, Casino Royale, Wild Tigers I Have Known
Books: Whitefella Jump Up, Salam Pax, The Truth About Food, How to be a Better Foodie, Norwegian Wood, A Year in the Merde, Wall and Piece, Arousal, Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World, Humble Pie, The Folding Star, Talk to the Snail, Receiving Love, Trumpet
Travelled within the UK: St Albans, Colchester, Rye, Battle, Cotswalds, Avebury, Laycock, Chatsworth, the Peak District, and Warwick Castle

I want to write in some more detail about these at some stage. Hopefully I get a chance soon. But this weekend I'm back to Bath, and next week I'm going to check out psychotherapy as a potential change of career.

London Toilets...

2007-03-06T21:26:00.000+08:00

London is an aging city, which means it can be quite trying living here at times. What can be quaint and charming to a tourist is often a daily frustration for those of us who live there. There seems to be a constant flow of people into London, for all sorts of reasons, which is putting increasing pressure on the infrastructure. This is not a concept that would at all be new to anyone who has visited London.

The latest thoughts along these lines comes from Bloomberg - Londoners Squirm as Public Toilets Grow Scarce; New Loo Is $10. Apparently Britain's shortage of public pissoirs means that 95 percent of Brits have urinated, defecated or vomited in public. To summerise from the article:

In Beijing, where the average salary is a 10th of London's, there are 7,700 toilets, or one for every 1,948 people. China's capital plans to renovate 3,700 in time for the 2008 Olympics. London, which will host the 2012 games and has one toilet per 18,000 residents, has no such plans...
A 53 percent increase in London house prices during the past five years has helped fuel the decline of the public toilet, as authorities sell valuable real estate to developers.
"It's not cost-effective to keep them," said Tony Wood, a real estate agent who helped convert a multi-stalled Victorian- era toilet in Forest Hill into a split-level apartment that rents for 700 pounds a month.

Which isn't to say that London isn't one of the great cities of the world. Where else could you live in an apartment converted from a toilet block! What it does mean though, is that if the powers that be aren't careful it won't be long before we are back to the "Big Stink" days!

Walk or Tube

2007-02-28T18:17:00.000+08:00

This should definitely be included with all tube maps. Certainly for tourists, who should get about on foot to understand what London is really about.

Shortwalk

Today’s interesting learning

2007-02-26T22:45:00.000+08:00

Most of us who communicate far too much in the online world of email and instant messaging are all too aware of the pit falls around using sarcasm. It can be quite tricky. One of the blogs that I read (if:book) mentioned that in French there is actually punctuation mark you can use to indicate irony.

Basically the symbol is a backwards question mark: “؟”. Which I guess you put at the end of the sentence, or maybe paragraph. There is a bit more on Wikipedia.

Some fun things

2007-02-15T19:53:00.000+08:00

I've been really slack at updating my blog. What's new you might say? So, I'm going to make some short notes on the things that I've been up to...

Mushrooming: I wasn't sure what mushrooming on Hampstead Heath would turn up. David organised this little day out, and I have to admit it was a great deal of fun. Whilst the Heath was a bit wet and the weather a bit cool, rummaging around was fun. We had a mushroom guy on hand to help identify stuff, so we wouldn't get sick - although there was no chance I was eating anything we found; I'd never seen any of these mushrooms before. I have to try a day in Epping Forrest next.; You can check out the walks at http://www.fungitobewith.org/
Momix: Lunar Sea: Modern dance at its most modern. This was fun for both the audience and the performers. The storylines through the different pieces for the evening were either simple or non-existant. This performance was all about eye-candy. The stage was made black, so black that performers wearing black could not be seen. Others had various limbs in white, and the combination of these with clever lighting made it possible to create effects and creatures on stage that I had never seen before. But at the same time you realise the simplicity and elegance behind the illusion. The two major themes for the performance were underwater landscapes and space scapes - both of which are captured in the title, along with a pun on lunacy.; You can check out some imagery on their website: http://www.momix.com/
Glyndebourne: Die Fledermaus: I've been trying to get the hang of opera for a while now. Having heard how good the Glyndebourne company were I booked myself in for an evening of Die Fledermaus. Glyndebourne don't normally tour, but instead perform in a magnificent country garden where you can enjoy a summer picnic with your opera.; I have to say I had an alright time. Opera still seems to be a snooty form of the musical - maybe I'm looking for too much?; This particular performance used a new english translation from the german, and was littered with witty comments. There also seemed to be a reasonable amount of cross dressing to liven things up, in a storyline I think we are all basically familiar with. One of the performers is discovered dressed in fishnet tights and a petticoat, and so he says "I'm wearing a Freudian slip!" I think you get a sense of the humour...

S.A.D.

2007-02-15T19:06:00.000+08:00

I've been living the UK for over a year now, and I'm still surprised by S.A.D. - seasonal affective disorder. Before coming to live in London I was quite sceptical that it was even a real disorder. When I first arrived from an Australian summer to a London winter I quickly changed my mind. There is something quite unnerving about the sun setting by 3.30 in the afternoon. But that’s okay, I thought, I’m just new here and by next year everything will be fine. Its next year now, and things are a lot easier. Mostly, I think, it has to do with being a lot busier at work and not noticing the early disappearance of the sun. Although, I noticed today that I am still affected by the weather. It’s been very grey and rainy here for the last week, but the today is a beautiful sunny day and it has really lifted my mood. I don’t remember being this sensitive to weather patterns when I lived in Australia. And I guess I’d have to say that S.A.D. is real.

Credo?

2006-12-13T02:10:00.000+08:00

"There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all of time, this expression is unique.
"And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and it will be lost.
"The world will not have it.
"It is not your business to determine how good it is nor how valuable nor how it compares with other expressions.
"It is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel open."

Martha Graham

I'm Going to Tell You a Secret

2006-12-13T02:08:00.000+08:00

"I got married for all the wrong reasons. When my husband didn't turn out to be everything I'd imagined he'd be, I wanted to end everything.
"There's no such thing as the perfect soulmate. If you meet someone and you think they're perfect, you better run as fast as you can in the other direction. 'Cos your soulmate is the person that pushes all your buttons, pisses you off on a regular basis, and makes you face your shit.
"It's not easy having a good marriage--but I don't want easy. Easy doesn't make you grow. Easy doesn't make you think. I thank God everyday that I am married to a man who makes me think. That's my definition of true love."

Madonna, I'm Going To Tell You A Secret

Laundry

2006-11-11T01:44:00.000+08:00

The washing machine at my new house can do a really hot hot wash. Hot enough to take all the colour out of my purple shirt, which is now white. Some of that purple ended up in one of my white shirts, giviving it a strange grey pink colour. So hot washes are only for towels and sheets now.

Today, I put my purple grey shirt in for another hot wash with the sheets and towels. I hoped it would come out white. Turns out the blue in my towel runs and now I have blue sheets and a light blue shirt.

I have my fingers crossed for third time lucky.

Bonfire Night in Lewes

2006-11-11T00:57:00.000+08:00

Bonfire night at Lewes was an experience almost too surreal at times. Whilst we initially went for the fireworks, which were fun, the real reason to go is for the street parades beforehand.

Lewes is beautiful old English town with lots of little alleys ways paved with cobblestones and two storey buildings mostly in an Elizabethan style. There’s a castle too, but we didn’t really get a chance to see that. During the street parades we stood huddled against the building walls as the street swelled with marches brandishing flaming torches, flaming crosses, flaming barrels of tar, flaming effigies, I think you get the flaming idea.

There are no safety barriers, just a few bewildered police attempting to ensure common sense prevailed. This seemed to be a symbol of anti-authoritarianism with the bonfire societies consistently repelling any attempts to control their night.

You can feel the heat of the flames. You can definitely hear the little banger type firecrackers going off as they were liberally tossed around at various points in the night. The buildings were orange from the flames or sometimes pink from a flare. At times, the smoke was almost nauseous. It felt like stepping back in time to some sort of medieval pitchfork and torch hunt for the local ogre.

One of the things about bonfire night is the burning and destruction of effigies representing various despised characters. Guy Fawkes and the Pope are always present for historical reasons, but in attendance this year were George Bush and Condoleezza Rice. It was quite something to watch the Pope explode in three separate explosions: taking out his head in one and body in two more.

Berlin

2006-11-11T00:30:00.000+08:00

Wow! What a cool place. Well, from a tourist’s point of view of course. David and I spent four days and three nights, trying not to rush around (but there is so much to see!), in Berlin in October. It appears to be a very liveable city with wide-open boulevards, quiet and efficient public transport, clean and the people were friendly and not to phased by our atrocious almost non-existent German.

We stayed at the Propeller City Island Hotel in Wilmersdorf. Each of the 45 rooms have been uniquely designed by Lars Stroschen – in the Goth Room you sleep in coffins; the Dwarf Room is 1.4m high and is full of gnomes; the Upside Down Room has its furniture glued to the ceiling (beds hidden in the floor). Our room was called Nightlight and was eerily orange in every respect. We shared a curtained window into the room next door for those voyeuristic moments. The bathroom can be described as a giant black plastic bag – really quite cool. Recommended if you want something different and are staying only one or two nights, it gets a bit much after that.

The Mitte is where everything touristy is at and I guess you have to go and see the Brandenburg gate, Unter Den Linden, Check Point Charlie and the remaining Berlin Wall bits. Reichstag tip – book lunch in the restaurant you are can go straight up skipping the queues. Schloss Charlottenburg is a nice enough old palace but these days it is really an art gallery. Tacheles is an old squat that has been converted into working artists’ studios; wondering through you get to see some cool contemporary stuff. The Fernsehturm is Berlin’s space age looking TV tower which constantly marks the sky line; nice and quiet if you go up at night.

I nearly forgot to write about the million and one sausages we ate and that was just on day two! Currywurst is worth a try, and don’t be scared off by the strange looking meat loaf, it too tastes fantastic. Sunday brunch is the thing to try with platters containing roast duck, fired quails eggs, strange cheeses, pates and more.

If I were going back, I would want to spend more time in East Berlin. The cool places to be are Friedrichschain and Prenzlauer Berg. Overall, I would say that the lower rents and cheap cost of living in Berlin have allowed people the chance to experiment. To take risks setting up quirky bars and clothing shops without worrying too much.

It will be interesting to compare this with the next big trip, which is to Paris.

The Pervert’s Guide to Cinema

2006-11-10T23:29:00.000+08:00

The problem for us is not whether our desires are satisfied or not. The problem is how do we know what we desire?
There is nothing spontaneous, nothing natural about human desires. Our desires are artificial - we have to be taught to desire.
Cinema is the ultimate pervert art. It doesn't give you what you desire, it tells you how to desire. - Zizek

Slavoj Zizek, the Slovenian philosopher and psychoanalyst, is your guide on what can only be called a speedy ride through the hidden meaning in contemporary film. I loved it; partly because he takes the theories of Freud and Lacan towards their limits and partly because he exudes a craziness that comes with being obsessed.

Essentially Zizek is trying to saying that there is more meaning in illusion than there is in reality. Studying the hidden meanings in movies by Hitchcock, Lynch and others, we get a view at an encapsulation of contemporary thinking and society. Here he uses the Matrix:

But the choice between the blue and the red pill is not really a choice between illusion and reality. Of course Matrix is a machine for fictions, but these are fictions which already structure our reality: if you take away from our reality the symbolic fictions that regulate it, you lose reality itself.
I want a third pill.
So what is the third pill? Definitely not some kind of transcendental pill which enables a fake fast-food religious experience, but a pill that would enable me to perceive not the reality behind the illusion but the reality in illusion itself.

If you get the chance to see it, I would go along. Don’t take yourself or the movie too seriously. Zizek certainly doesn’t as he tosses in liberal doses of his whacky sense of humour. And take something to snack on as it’s about two hours long, which is the cut down version and way to long for one sitting of a documentary.

The Devil Wears Prada

2006-10-16T15:55:00.000+08:00

I thought this movie was a lot of fun. Yes, as you already know, it is a Hollywood flick, so don't expect anything totally deep and meaningful. However, I think it does a reasonable job of balancing the ideas of fashion being wearable interactive art, whilst also being a huge commercial machine.

I've already heard that the Miranda in the book is a lot worse than the Miranda in the movie, but I would have to say that the Miranda in the movie is not that bad. I certainly know two people who I think are almost on her level when it comes to interacting with other people. At least she is quite predictable in her behaviour. Would I work for someone like that? Sure. I think predictability is much more important, because then you can start to manage things; which is exactly what happens in the movie.

Couture is the other discussion point that comes up, with me anyway. If you had all the money in the world, would you wear it? Is it worth the effort, the cost, or is it mere folly?

One of the really nice things about this movie is that it shows women in positions of power whilst not totally removing their feminity. Okay, granted that fashion can be seen as a women's arena, but surely only to some extent when so many of the labels are run by men. The main character also manages to maintain a sense of integrity through to the end.

And the end - well, it's the only non-spoon-fed part of the movie. Otherwise you get spoon-fed all the way along, but we are used to that from Hollywood. And it means you can switch off and enjoy the sharp reparte between the characters.

Singing

2006-09-06T21:49:00.001+08:00

I don’t think I ever published my New Year’s Resolutions on my blog. One of the things that I wanted to do was learn to dance salsa or tango or maybe even flamenco. I did manage a few lessons of salsa and even less of flamenco while I was working in Norwich. But what I did notice while I was looking at dance studios were singing lessons.

I signed up with The Courage to Sing for 12 weeks of beginner lessons, and having completed the first six I have to say they are quite good. Now, you won’t be seeing me on the stage anytime soon, not even karaoke, but I have a lot more confidence in my singing voice. These are small group lessons (four people) which gave us the chance to listen and learn from each other was well as trying harmonies and listening to how our voices fitted together – or didn’t!

The lessons involve lots of singing and breathing exercises; I guess stuff that becomes part of a professional warm up routine. From there we learnt a number of short inspirational songs which we used for harmonies and rounds. But the really cool part was being able to bring along a song of your own and trying to learn that. I went with my singing partner’s selection of Hallelujah, the Jeff Buckley version, as she seemed quite keen on it. And that was when the real learning began.

There is a lot more to learning to sing a song than I realised. It is a journey of making the song your own. Whilst this just looks like a list of things to be done – learn the tune, phrasing, and words; you slowly start to understand the energy of the song and how these three things come together to really express something.

In the beginning it is just a technical process which seems to suck the life out of the song, dulled with constant repetition and attention to detail. And singing with someone, that was the easy part of the process. Persisting until we knew the song by heart was when it became interesting and much harder to sing with someone. Whilst it was easy to agree on the technical aspects, it was much harder to agree on how to breathe life back into the song.

I look forward to my next six lessons and wonder which song I will do this time around. In the mean time I’m going to join a singing group.

Yoga

2006-08-31T18:03:00.000+08:00

On Mondays and Tuesdays I do Ashtanga yoga. Monday's are an introductory course, which is pretty easy going because we are focusing on getting the poses just right. Tuesday is the real thing, where we really lean into the poses. I guess it’s like an advanced form of stretching, which uses your own body to stretch against itself, along with a certain amount of stamina and strength building.

I used to do Hatha yoga and hence knew yoga as a relaxing time out meditative experience. Ashtanga is much more like a mini-workout with me sweating everywhere and starting to slip around on the yoga mat by the end of the session. I notice that the serious types bring little bags of chalk with them to help with exactly this problem. And if you are really serious you have your own yoga mat and cute little yoga outfit to go with it, but I’m not quite that serious!

I have to say that I love it and wish I had started sooner. I can really feel my muscles letting go of tensions from the week and just maybe I am getting a little more flexible. One of my favourite things is that when I walk out of the studio at the end I can feel my legs carrying my weight, instead of holding my weight in my shoulders. It is nice to feel physically grounded and being led by my waist for at least a little while until my head (and shoulders) takes over again.

A quick plug for the place where I have been going: Triyoga. They quite a professional bunch with nice studios in Carnaby Street, Primrose Hill, and Covent Garden.

In the Theatre

2006-07-21T22:40:00.000+08:00

The weather is so oppressive at the moment. I was just commenting to the Laundromat woman that I can’t sleep at night and I can’t stay awake during the day. But, it’s about time I wrote a little update on my blog. The last little while has seen me going to quite a lot of theatre, all linked to music of some sort - no real plays as of yet.

Eric Clapton: This was in the Royal Albert Hall and an enjoyable evening. I guess I wasn’t really sure what to expect, thinking back on all the different styles of music and groups that Clapton has been involved in over the years. He played in quite a large group with two of everything except percussion. It’s fun to sit somewhere grand like the Royal Albert Hall and listen to something so modern. I think it helped to make the event feel like quite a treat.
Mary Poppins: I can’t say I remembered all the songs, but then I was assured this musical version was closer to the original novel than the movie that I was familiar with. Although I would say: it’s definitely something for the children and not really the child in all of us. The costumes were quite pretty and well chosen. This was the first fully moving stage that I’ve seen, and I was quite impressed at the time. Although now I am spoiled and am getting quite used to that standard around the West End of London.
Kabuki: Kabuki is quite an experience, particularly when you find yourself sitting amongst elegant Japanese woman in their kimonos. This is a very formal style of Japanese dance, which was incredibly graceful, elegant and so imbued with meaning that we required little headsets to explain what was going on. The experience was so esoteric and yet strangely tangible at the same time. I was surprised to find myself connecting more to these dancers than to the small amount of classical ballet I’ve seen in the past.
Sunday in the Park with George: This was just beautiful. This was the first musical to make me cry and justifiably so. The story unfolds cleverly with the first and second halves brilliantly juxtaposed. The characters quietly grow in depth throughout. The costumes, the colours, the use of lighting and the stage effects are all done in a way that adds to the story without distracting. I’m tempted to go and see this one again. It really was quite special.
Summer Collection: I have to admit I found this event quite odd. I guess it is a chance for students or smaller groups to try something out against a small audience. I found the dynamic quite strange, but then again I wasn’t really myself that night. This is an ongoing event with different performers all the time. Worth going to if you want to see a snippet of different things, and are more interested in variety than quality.
Avenue Q: I loved it. Expect the sort of humour that mainly appeals to the South Park generation. Avenue Q is a musical that takes the disarming charm of Sesame Street style characters and throws them into a biting satirical look at 20-somethings growing up in today’s mixed up world.
Crush Room: At different points throughout the year, the Royal Opera House offers free Monday lunchtime concerts in their Crush Room. I was able to catch the last one of the current season: cello (Mary Mundy) with piano accompaniment (Paul Wynne Griffiths). Incredibly beautiful playing of Rachmaninov’s Cello Sonata in G minor Op. 19, in very comfortable surroundings. I won’t pretend to know much about classical music, but I know I’ll try and be back for more in the next season.
Ignite: The Royal Albert Hall has free concerts on Friday lunch times. Being in Café Consort around the back of the hall, they can be a little hit and miss in terms of the audience. However, I haven’t been let down by the performers yet. It is easy to drop in and out and eat a little lunch whilst listening to a fantastic range of live world music.

There are more things to report on, but I’ll leave that until next time.

Recent Travels

2006-05-12T18:17:00.000+08:00

Back from more travels, I need to really knuckle down and update this blog. There is still no mention of travelling to Austria for skiing over Chirstmas, a weekend in Madrid and a weekend in Poitiers. Our biggest recent trip was a week in Jordan. Consider yourself updated - lol!

We had a week in Austria with daily private ski lessons. The daily lessons made a huge difference with the concept of skiiing suddenly making sense and a lot more fun. Probably the most remarkable thing was the size the snow fields. We would take lifts up and up until the village below was barley visible, and then procede to ski almost to our hotel door. It certinaly beat the constant up/down of the shorter fields in Australia.

The first thing to strike us about Madrid is the sharpness of the sunlight, almost like the Australian sun. Living in England you have to get used to the soft hazy nature of the light here - not in a soft focus romantic kind of way, but in a more dulling grey kind of way. The people seemed friendlier too, but then maybe that was the sunshine. The food was awesome - the Spanish really seem to embrace the idea of simple foods with clean strong flavours.

Poitiers was our first French experience. I picked a little town that would be easy to spend a weekend at. It was fun to see what it might be like to live in a small country town like Poitiers. So much history packed into such a small space, the conservators were barely keeping up. An incredible food market, making us wish we had a kitchen to take things back to. David's French seemed to work okay, but mine needs some more work. Probably the biggest catch was not realsing exactly how much closed down on a Sunday - even the public bus system stopped.

Poitiers, France

Jordan - where do I start? The Middle East is a huge contrast to the Europe we've seen so far. Thia trip was filled with so many amazing sights, you just can't fit them all in your head at the same time - well, I can't! I wish we had spent more time exploring Amman and getting a feel for life in a Middle Eastern city. We headed up north to Jerash to see the ancient Roman ruins (best outside of Italy), which were quite stunning. The scale of Petra was something I wasn't prepared for: it was at least as rich as Rome at its peak. The rock formations of the Wadi Rum dessert were beautiful and the Bedoiun very friendly. We finsihed with a quick trip to the Dead Sea, which to be honest is just odd. The water feels oily, the air is incredibly humid, and yes, without much effort you almost float right out of the water.

Jordan Photos
Jordan Begins: The Journey there and Amman
Jordan Jerash
More Jordan to come...

Eating

2006-05-02T14:44:00.000+08:00

The World's Top 50 Restaurants has been released for 2006. I've never really bothered to try and figure out how accurate the list is: there are just too many places to eat at, my food knowledge is good but limited, and it is always going to be subjective. But I guess if your restaurant misses out you might feel differently.

Here are London's listings, and the next six months of eating out to be planned:

Hakkasan (36)
St John (35)
Le Gavroche (27)
Gordon Ramsay Royal Hospital Road (14)
Nobu (12)
The Fat Duck (2)

The booking for the Fat Duck has almost been made, and I can't wait to be blown away by the creativity I'm expecting. But the one I am most curious about is Hakkasan - it is the only exotic one star Michelan in Europe that I haven't tried yet and it seems to get really mixed reviews. My fellow foodie David is certainly in no rush.

For those of you in Australia your top five are:

Tetsuya's (5)
Rockpool (30)
Claudes (64)
Vue de Monde (72)
Icebergs (89)

After watching, in disbelief, the SMH Good Food Guide take away one of Rockpool's chef hats last year, I'm glad to see that their ranking by Restaurant Magazine has stayed the same. And if you haven't eaten at Tetsuya's yet, why not? Amazing world class food at a really good price. We've paid more in London for food that Tetsuya wouldn't give to his dog, if he had one. Treat yourself!

Smoked Duck

2006-04-12T04:54:00.000+08:00

I haven't really done a lot of cooking at home for too long now. I think I miss it. Cooking was always one of my passions in life. It is also one of David's passions, and so David has been doing most of the cooking.

One our exploration of Marleybone High St, which is a great place for foodies to explore, I bought a smoked duck's breast from France. It felt quite good in the shop, but I was dubious as I am of most things in London. Once I got it out of the packaging at home I can easily say it is up there with the best smoked duck I have ever had. The skin had a nice thick layer of fat under it, the flesh was firm and not pumped up with water, and importantly the flavour was superb.

I cooked one of my old favourites for dinner. You begin by separating the skin (and fat) from the duck breast. Slice the skin and fry the fat off in a frying pan. Once done, remove the skin and allow to dry and become crispy. Finely slice some potato and fry in the duck fat until brown and crispy. Drain off the fat, and fry the sliced duck breast.

The potato forms the base layer on the plate, followed by some rocket and then the duck breast. Top with the crackling. I added a balsamic dressing for some sweetness, and some asparagus to make sure we were full (and they are just in season here).

Books...

2006-04-11T16:54:00.000+08:00

I've been reading quite a lot more since I've been here. Which is one of those catch 22 things - I've always wanted to spend more time reading, but then again there is a whole world waiting to be explored right on my door step...

The list of books on the bed side table will be kept more up to date from now on.

I was dragging Tom Robbins' Even Cowgirls Get the Blues around Sydney for ages. Which is more a comment on the distractions of Sydney than the book being boring or hard to get through. I think Robbins only gets into the style of writing that I enjoy towards the end of this novel. I like his quirky style, and this being one of his earlier novels, is not quite as developed as it is in the later novels. My rating: okay.

David bought me a copy of Ruth Reichl's Garlic & Sapphires. We've both read it, loved it, and even cooked some of the recipes from the story. This is a great story about what it might be like to be a restaurant reviewer for the New York Times. It's a lovely blend of food, restaurant reviews and New York stories, but more interesting it also tells the story of how working and living in New York changes Reichl. My rating: loved it.

Of course, I'm also trying to read up on London. My Mum is reading Peter Ackroyd's London: The Biography, but at a whopping 880 pages I'm not sure my attention span will last. So, I settled for A.N. Wilson's London a Short History. I enjoyed the whirlwind tour. I get the feeling that Wilson is passionate about London, its past and future. I found it really helped me to see London as multi-layered and reaching back into the past in an organic manner. But, modern London seems to get a bit of a battering. My rating: good

Enough on books, time to go outside...

Pet Shop Boys

2006-04-11T03:43:00.000+08:00

Something I didn't expect from living in London is a new found connection with the Pet Shop Boys.

The vibe and feel of their music seems to make more sense, and of course the words now make a lot more sense too. I can almost visualise some of the locations in their songs. I always thought of them as being very British, but I guess now I realise just how London they are too.

I wonder if the same thing will happen with any other bands?

Bakerloo Line Rap

2006-04-06T16:46:00.000+08:00

The tube line that runs nearest to our house is the Bakerloo Line, so named because it originally used to run from Baker Street to Waterloo. Like most of the trains in London there is an automated voice alerting you to the next stop or warning you the doors are about to close. Every so often though the voice seems to have a problem.

Yesterday, it managed to get the stations out of order, giving me a fright as I was deeply involved in the book I was reading.

I like the Baker Street Station announcement the most. There is a certain pause in the introduction creating suspense before she rushes through the station name with excitement: "This... is... Baker St!"

Once going through Marleybone station the voice got stuck: "This is Ma-M-Ma-Ma-M-M-Marlybone". It got me thinking that maybe someone could release the Bakerloo Line rap or use the announcements in a dance track like KLF's Last Train to Transcentral...

Electric Cinema, Notting Hill

2006-03-28T00:39:00.000+08:00

We went along to the Electric Cinema on Friday night to watch Transamerica. David had already told me a little about the movie, but it didn't end up living up to my expectations. I guess I was expecting something a little harder hitting and more confronting. Instead, Transamerica is the classic family road story but with the twist of transgender issues thrown in.

Electric Cinema on the other hand is lovely and well worth the visit. I don't think it has always been a cinema, but it is now with its comfortable leather seats, foot stools, and fully stocked bar with snacks like smoked salmon. You will need to book ahead by at least five days in order to get the tickets you want though.

Artic Conditions?

2006-03-02T20:26:00.000+08:00

Some of you may be aware that I spend most of my weeks in Norwich for work these days. On the one hand it has been a good opportunity to see a slice of life in Norwich – the pace is slower and more comfortable than London living. However, on the other hand I am not spending as much time in London as I would like to be.

This week has seen what the newspapers called “Artic conditions” in northern and eastern England. I doubt that is remotely true otherwise I am ready for my first Artic trek. But, it did snow.

While walking to the hotel on Tuesday night it was snowing heavily and the temperature was bearable when the wind stopped. Part of the walk takes me through the quiet back streets, which were extra quiet and somewhat prettier covered in snow. It is an interesting feeling to be walking along with everything so quiet and with the only footprints being your own trailing you in the snow.

Trompe L'Oeil

2006-03-01T20:34:00.000+08:00

It must have been interesting living during the Victorian era. See if you can spot what is odd about this picture?

If you look on the right hand side, you will notice the windows are little bit too grey. That’s because they aren’t real. This whole façade hides a hole in the ground down to the London Underground.

The Circle/District train line runs along here. It is part of the first underground railway in London (and the world for that matter), made using the cut and cover technique. The initial trains used were steam powered, so holes were required along the track to let the steam and smoke out.

This section is between Paddington and Bayswater: 23 and 24 Leinster Gardens. For some reason they didn’t bother with a façade around the back. Check it out if you’re walking in the area.

Kopi Luwak

2006-02-27T07:38:00.000+08:00

Well, they say you can get anything in London and maybe you can. David and I shared a cup of Kopi Luwak, claimed to be the rarest coffee in the world.

A luwak is a small wild animal native to Indonesia and Vietnam, also known as: luak, musang, toddy cat, civet, palm civet and civet-cat. It is a long distant cousin of the mongoose, and it loves to eat ripe coffee cherries. It is said the luwak is an extremely fussy eater, and will only select the best and ripest coffee fruit to eat.

The eaten fruit of the coffee is digested; leaving the bean mostly unchanged which is pooped out. The beans are collected, cleaned and lightly roasted to produce Kopi Luwak.

So, how does it taste? Not surprisingly, it tastes a lot like coffee. It was quite earthy, but lacked the bitterness I normally associate with earthy coffees. It was very smooth, slightly nutty and had a very short aftertaste. Really quite pleasant.

Chinese New Year

2006-02-15T22:57:00.000+08:00

We had a laid-back Chinese New Year celebration this year – I guess we’ve never really done anything huge before anyway. After sleeping in, and completing a handful of errands, we managed to miss the official Chinese New Year parade with obligatory fireworks. Instead, we headed off to Yuatcha to try one of London’s better dim sum offerings (also known as yum cha in other parts of the world). I have to say we’ve struggled with eating out here so far. The cost of eating out is rather high and usually the quality is dubious. Cuisines from different cultures are often mixed up – imagine ordering sushi from a Chinese restaurant for example. Yuatcha was a nice surprise. The décor, layout and service were all exceptional. Coming from Sydney, where ordering dim sum involves trying to flag down a trolley pushed by a grumpy waiter, it was nice to be able to order from the menu. (Although I always thought fighting with the trolley waiter was part of the fun). The quality of the food was average, particularly when faced with the bill (AUD$90 a head for dim sum!). But, what really stood out for me was the tea. Yuatcha serves a reasonable range of exquisite teas from various South East Asian countries. We’ll be back to try their upstairs tearoom, which has a larger range of teas than the dining room and a range of cute looking Chinese pastries.

Somerset House Ice Skating

2006-02-15T22:15:00.000+08:00

I guess there must be indoor ice-skating rinks around here somewhere, but the current fashion is to ice skate outdoors preferably near some sort of tourist attraction. So popular, you need to buy your tickets weeks in advance, which makes the weather a bit of risk. Unfortunately, we were caught out with the weather – hardly surprising for a winter’s day in London – but it didn’t stop the crowds showing up. There are a selection of rinks to try, and I’m not sure there is much to recommend any of them. David tried the one at the National History Museum, which I think is the most picturesque rink, but it suffers from leaves falling on the ice which had him nearly falling over a few times. The London Tower rink appealed to me as they place it over a portion of the moat, leaving you with the impression that you are skating on the moat. Well, that was the idea. The reality is this rink is quite small and you skate next the outer wall of the Tower, which is really quite bleak. We ended up settling for Somerset House, which appears to be a reasonable size and nice enough setting. As with most things in London, you have to try and get used to the reduced size of things, huge numbers of people and exorbitant cost. In other words, this was the smallest rink I’ve skated on and it was packed. Not being an expert skater I needed nearly all of my skill just to try to dodge around all the people. Overall though I would still say that we had an enjoyable day out. Next year I want to check out the ice skating rink at Kew Gardens or maybe even the one under the Eiffel Tower.

C & R Cafe Restaurant

2005-12-20T20:07:00.000+08:00

Expect more on David's Blog, but I thought I'd quickly write about a little find of ours. C & R is a little Malaysian place in Rupert Court, London, W1D 6DY (Map).

It was surprisingly authentic. I know, not being Malaysian myself, how would I know. But I have a few Malaysian friends, and I like to think I'm getting the hang of how things should look/taste from that part of the world. I was even able to guess that the chefs were Chinese Malay, based on the menu mostly.

Great food at a great price, if a little crowded - where in London isn't?? - and I still have to get used people being allowed to smoke inside. I'm going to leave it to David to critique the meal itself.

Ben's Cookies

2005-12-20T19:32:00.000+08:00

David and I stopped at Ben's Cookies at the High Street Kensington tube stop after a long day of shopping. Cookies and milk were the order of the day. We felt a bit like big kids wandering around after that. Kind of yum, kind of filling, but nothing really special.

Pub Food

2005-12-19T20:28:00.000+08:00

It's not that we aren't enjoying the food here, it's just that, well, its mostly brown and in this case quite poorly presented. I'll leave it to your imagination as to why David was giggling when this arrived at the table. Underneath is a giant Yorkshire pudding - otherwise known as a piece of pastry - and on top is a Cumberland sausage. All hearty pub food from an area near St Martins in the Fields, previously known for its brothels.

The Tube

2005-12-12T23:35:00.000+08:00

The London Underground is quite an a amazing thing on many levels. It was the first transport network of its type in the world, and I have to say this is kind of obvious when you catch it now. Apparently there have been major improvements over the last few years, so I hate to imagine what it was like before that. In summary, it's a lot like catching an underground rollercoaster, only a lot more expensive.

One of the cool things about the tube is the tube map. It is considered to be one of the best examples of graphic design in our time. Although one day I'd love to see a map of where the tube actually goes. But someone has decided to present a slightly different picture.

Oskar Lin has designed a tube map based on travel times. It's quite an amazing picture, and I'm not sure I'd swap it for the current design. You can read all about the process of creating this complex image, and more about him on his blog. I've included the final image below, which shows travel times from Elephant & Castle:

Ice Skating

2005-12-04T03:17:00.000+08:00

Well, I've made it to London at last. Things here are very different and yet very much the same. It is quite cold, as you might expect, also wet and windy. It reminds me a lot of really bad Canberra winter mornings. Only, it's like that all day long... But it's sunny today, so I shant complain too much.

I think my biggest let down so far is that I was expecting London to be very modern and efficient. It is neither of these things.

The photo is of the temporary ice skating rink that has been opened next to the Natural History Museum. As you can see, very pretty. David spent part of his work Christmas party here, ice skating. He tells me that he only fell over once.

On the road from Sydney

2005-11-26T19:35:00.000+08:00

This is the kind of cloud I've ever only seen in movies. It's less than a week to summer, and these clouds broke into a tremendous hail storm that forced the traffic to stop. When I got to Canberra it looked like it had snowed! (And yes, the clouds are blue).

Fatta

2005-11-23T07:17:00.000+08:00

It's Lebanese day at the work cafe. I'm having fatta for breakfast: broken Lebanese bread, savory lamb mince, chickpeas, pine nuts, yoghurt and parsley. It was yum, and now I can't wait for lunch...

Frattelli Fresh

2005-11-22T14:43:00.000+08:00

This is my first mobile phone blog entry. I popped out to see what all the fuss was about at Frattelli's. Slightly over priced, but great quality produce, and a great range. The cafe upstairs, Soporo, was full and had 20 people queued up! So, I didn't get to try that. Instead I tried Dank St Depot, which was quite nice.

Sydney Fish Market

2005-11-22T14:20:00.000+08:00

My final day in the Australian sun eating seafood: local lobster, blue swimmer crabs, tuna & salmon sashimi with soy, wasabi, & seaweed salad, giant oysters with Tetsuya's sauce and champagne (rosé and pinot noir)...

British Telecom - BT

2005-10-14T09:59:00.000+08:00

I just wanted to say how wonderful Telstra in Australia is. I've spent so much energy complaining about them over the years, but now I've experienced British Telecom or BT. Oh my God! I have never experience customer service of such a low quality before; at a level never even imagined before.

I am trying to get a quote for the BT Datazone offering. Basically its a 3G service for laptops. My initial request for a quote was ignored because they couldn't call me on the phone number provided on their web form. Which is interesting on two counts: one, I specifically requested them to email me and secondly their web form won't accept international phone numbers.

So, now I start two separate complaints in the BT system. I complained to the webmaster that I couldn't enter my international telephone number on their web form. I sent a brief message explaining this along with the URL. I also pointed out their form asks for my email address in two separate locations, which is redundant.

Unfortunately the webmaster didn't understand what I was talking about. And besides, he couldn't help me unless I provide my BT customer number and BT telephone number. No problem, I'll explain it again, send a screen shot and explain that I am not a BT customer yet. I decided not to point I probably would never be a BT customer after this experience.

Oh, no! Who would have thought that now they won't even read my email because it has a PNG file attached for fear they may catch a virus. For non-technical readers this is totally impossible. I've sent another email asking if BT use any sort of virus scanning software on their workstations or SMTP gateway which should protect them from virus attack. I haven't received a reply yet...

Onto complaint two, which is the non-reply to my request for a quote. The customer service person replies by email complaining she couldn't call me because my phone number is not valid, but if I supply my BT customer number, BT telephone number and full details on what I would like a quote for she would love to help.

Since I included my original quote number in my complaint email I can only surmise that BT are unable to look up past quotes or unwilling to. But then again, if she just scrolled down a little in my email she would have seen the original quote included...

No problem. I let her know that I specifically requested to be contacted email, so it isn't a problem she couldn't call me. I also explain the reason my phone number is invalid (see above) or although in hindsight I should have skipped that bit, and I provide my phone number for her. I then go on to explain that I am not a BT customer and hence don't have a BT customer number or a BT telephone number. I stop short of explaining that this is kind of obvious since I am requesting a quote for a new service.

I am starting to wander if I am missing something obvious. Maybe everyone in Britain is born with a BT customer number and BT telephone number? After this experience I doubt very much I want anything to do with BT, but I will continue the complaint process for amusement purposes to see if they can actually respond to a customer request or not.

My original request was lodged on the 6/10. It's been more than a week so far...

More Sydney Tourist

2005-10-10T10:51:00.000+08:00

Saturday night hunger pangs saw us taking a walk though Kings Cross. I had forgotten what this place was like on a Saturday night. This is what I imagine a red light district would actually be like. I am not sure there is anything quite like it in the rest of Australia.

The walk starts with the now historic Coca-Cola neon signing, flashing at everyone coming up the William Street side of the Cross and hinting at the gaudiness to come. This is the actual location of the cross itself, which refers to the intersection Darlinghurst Road and William Street. This is also a good spot for a midnight snack. Looking into the Cross, on your left you'll find a little hot dog stand which serves either a frankfurter or sausage in an open roll with the cheese fried on. A bit further down and on the right you can find a chicken take-away shop selling all the greasy food you've ever seen: pizza, kransky, pork chops, you name it.

All a long cry from the old Kings Cross, which in the first half of the 19th century was a prestigious address where the wealth built their homes with a view. The 1920s saw the addition of many stylish apartments and the area became home to bohemian artists and writers. During the 1960s, the Cross became a Ârest and recreationÂ destination for servicemen, which has set a certain flavour to the Cross as we know it now.

Kings Cross is the most densely populated area in Australia and offers quite a variety of experiences. As you head into the Cross, you come to a three way intersection offering:

Victoria St with its quiet leafy houses, views back on to the city, a few well regarded restaurants (including Nest and Mezzaluna) and boutique hotels.
Darlinghurst Rd is the Cross as most people remember it: the red light district. The neon and flashing lights continue down to the park at the end with the well-known thistle fountain. Each side is lined with questionable establishments and spruikers trying to tempt you in.
Bayswater Rd and Kellet St offer a few classy bars like Hugo's, which is known as a haunt for models and celebrities.

I recommend spending an hour or so wandering around and taking in the atmosphere of one of Australia's more unique city experiences. It's an easy walk from here down to Woolloomooloo. You can either continue down Victoria St for a tree lined residential stroll, in which case you should look out for some stairs on your left that will take you down to the bay. Or you can continue down Darlinghurst Rd which ends up having some fairly neat shops and cafes before it winds it way down to Woolloomooloo.

Once in Woolloomooloo you can check out Harry's Cafe de Wheels which has been serving pea floaters (meat pie with mash potato, mashed peas and gravy on top!) for as long as I can remember. An interesting food experience, frequented by the odd famous person (KFC's Colonel Sanders, Frank Sinatra, Robert Mitchum, Marlene Dietrich, Kevin Costner and even Elton John) as the autographed photos on the side of the cafe will attest. There is also the finger wharf which has been converted into a hotel (the W) and apartments. Along one side is quite an array of swanky restaurants where you can't really go wrong for quality meal.

The Weekend

2005-10-10T10:06:00.000+08:00

I don't know if you have parked your car at the Sydney Opera House, but I want to say I think the underground car park is quite cool. It consists of two co-located spirals of about six levels each. You spiral all the way down on one spiral before crossing to the other, where you spiral all the way back up. There are interconnecting tunnels between the spirals to allow for a faster exit.

I'm not sure it is the most efficient use of space: cars being squarish and the car park being circular is bound to waste some space. But, there are other advantages. Interestingly you can't see very far ahead or behind you as you drive. Rather than this being a hindrance, it actually forces people to drive at a more sensible speed. It's also quite an easy drive, once you get the angle of the steering wheel right you can just cruise on up or down. You don't need to worry about intersections, going the wrong way or some cars making a dash for it because you just simply can't.

The reason for being in that part of world was to enjoy the anime festival currently showing at the Dendy, Opera Quays. The Dendy is quite nice, and what I didn't realise is that it is fully licensed: you can enjoy a champagne or a beer if you like.

So far, we've watched Millennium Actress: a classic love story filmed through the protagonist’s memories in a semi-documentary style where reality and the memories are beautifully blurred together. Ghost in the Shell: starting to show it’s age now (1995), I still think it is one of the most visually beautiful animes made. There is incredible detail to attention, colour and a haunting soundtrack that brings a sense of magic I didn’t expect. Still to come: Ghost in the Shell 2, Appleseed, and Escaflowne.

Got my hair cut on the weekend and I am starting to look like an English college boy – very preppy. My hairdresser tried to sell me a set of flat irons, but I still need to think about that one. After my haircut, I popped into Max Brenner to try their spicy Mexican hot chocolate, which I can attest to being quite spicy – I had to ditch it after four sips. I then lingered around in the shops at Oxford St procrastinating, partly because I needed to do my tax return and partly because I managed to get one of those rare well located free car parking spots that I just didn’t want to give up…

Iron Chef comes to Sydney

2005-10-07T11:25:00.000+08:00

Iron Chef is coming to Sydney, for the first time! Iron Chef is pro-wrestling meets cooking. If you haven't seen it, you can check it out on SBS on Saturdays at 8.30pm.

Iron Chef French Sakai meets Galileo's Chef Harunobu Inukai at Galileo Restaurant. Large screens will display each moment from the kitchen, from preparation to presentation, as both Chefs combine to produce seven courses, served with wines.

If you're keen to go, it's on 6.30pm, Wednesday 12th, Thursday 13th and Friday 14th October. And now for the crunch: $450 per person. That includes welcome cocktails, the 7 course dinner and matching wines. Call: 02 9256 2215.

Lindt Chocolate Appreciation

2005-10-05T15:26:00.000+08:00

The world's first Lindt Concept Store & Cafe has been open in Sydney for a little while now, and will be coming up to their first year in November. Whilst I still don't think it compares favorably to Max Brenner chocolates, I wasn't going to knock back the opportunity to go to a evening of chocolate appreciation.

The evening starts with an interesting overview of the history of chocolate. I didn't realise that chocolate started off as the drinking kind only, and it was quite some time before milk chocolate was invented. The major chocolate growing areas are all located around the equator, and there are only three kinds of cocoa beans suitable for making chocolate. The whole chocolate making process was explained, with samples of the cocoa mass being passed around for each stage of the process.

Lindt chocolate is the same the world over. The only thing that they change is the packaging. All production occurs back in Switzerland using their secret recipes and techniques.

A summary of what we ate:

milk chocolate
dark chocolate
orange milk chocolate
almond white chocolate
Ecuador dark chocolate
Opera cake
Macarons
St Moritz cake
Lindt ice cream (we tried the duo and the caramel)
Lindt hot chocolate
And from the connoisseur's selection

excellence 70%
wimbeldon
marc de champagne truffle
passion
white truffle

And a take home pack of connoissuer's selection and Lindt balls

It's hardly surprising upon reading the list to find out that I actually felt a little ill from all the chocolate by the end. You get a little chocolate take home bag at the start, and I recommend breaking all the initial tasting chocolates in half, placing one half in the bag and the other in your mouth. You can of course take home any of the connoisseur items, but since they are full of ganache you can't break them in half for later.

There are about a six different Lindt ice cream flavours, but if you are fussy you should head straight over to the ice cream after the talk. You get a whole mini-tub to yourself.

There is also a 10% discount for any purchases on the night. The store has a number of items that are not available anywhere else. These included: a larger range of the Lindt balls, a 99% cocoa chocolate, limited edition mint flavoured milk chocolate, and the new region based chocolates (Ecuador, Cuba, Madagascar - I think).

The evening cost $60 per head. At the time of writing it's being run on Wednesday nights from 7pm. Ph: 02 9667 7800. Email: alever@lindt.com. Parking tip: you can park at the Sydney Eye Hospital until 9.30pm for $14, access off Art Gallery/Hospital Rds.

Northern Beaches

2005-10-04T14:04:00.000+08:00

Last weekend was the October long weekend celebrating Labour Day. I've spent most of my weekends lately trying to organise my travel to the UK; but this Monday I decided to have a break.

After a lazy start for the day we decided to head over to the Manly Jazz Festival. Well... that didn't quite eventuate. Whilst I'm sure it is a must do experience, I'd recommend taking the ferry rather than driving. After sitting in traffic for 30 minutes and not really moving much further forward we took a detour back in land and looped around to Dee Why, which meant skipping out the Spit Bridge.

We drove up the coast line which was pleasantly quiet for most of the journey. We got glimpses of the sea and packed beaches as we wound our way north. It was kind of funny to be so close to Sydney and yet this area was distinctly coastal and holiday in feel.

The first beach stop was Whale Beach, which is an amazing drive in through steep cliffs. Houses are perched along the rocky edges, some with supporting concrete beams running down the cliff for tens of meters. The views were just incredible. Whale Beach was fairly quiet and is well protected from the wind. We assumed if you lived on the beach you probably go to the mountains for your holidays...

We walked along the beach and around the headland to where we could see Palm Beach. Nestled amongst the rocks were a number of Asian families. We were rather surprised at how prepared one group was with three gas stoves, woks, and large plastic tubs of vegetables and other yummy goodies. It must have been quite a task to carry all that.

One of my close friends used to spend a lot of time in Avalon, not far away, which is where we retreated for lunch in a little cafe called Swell. The little town of Avalon was full of people escaping the heat of the day, and Swell was struggling to keep up with the demand. We tried to kick back and relax (a challenge considering the heat was making us all a bit grumpy) with some magazines whilst waiting for our food: almond & apricot toast with ginger butter, Thai chicken salad, tuna & egg salad baguette, and a steak sandwich. Whilst nothing brilliant the food was nice.

Our final beach relaxation was had on Palm Beach, made famous for the filming of the Australian soapy Home and Away. The sand on Palm Beach was softer than Whale Beach, but it had the same orange/red colour to it. Palm Beach is long, open and a bit more exposed than Whale Beach. The sun sets behind Palm Beach, so most of the sun worshippers had moved on by the time we arrived. I guess the keen ones would have moved across to Station Beach on the other side of the headland.

Once the sun set we drove back home, stopping in at Manly to have a look at the aftermath of the Jazz festival. We discovered that in conjunction with the Jazz festival is an enlarged version of the Manly markets: Markets by the Sea. Next time I'll have to make more of an effort to get along. We had Thai for dinner and then decided we needed some Max Brenner chocolate to wash it all down with.

The Manly Max Brenner was closed forcing us to try the one in Double Bay which is quite pleasant indeed. It appears Max is expanding his menu in Australia with additions such as the refreshing lychee, coconut milk and honey drink.

After a days adventuring up the coast I slept like a log...

The Sydney Tourist

2005-09-30T12:27:00.000+08:00

So, you're coming to Sydney and you want to know some cool stuff to do... Here's is my list. As per usual, feel free to comment to add your own ideas.

Orbit Bar/Summit restaurant: Don't waste your time going up the AMP Tower when you can go to Orbit Bar. Not only will you be seeing one of Harry Seidler's famous buildings, Australia Square, but you can enjoy an organic watermelon vodka martini whilst sitting 47 floors up on a rotating platform. The decor is quite interesting as well, probably best summed up as being based upon the sets of Stanley Kubrik's A Space Odyssey 2001. Summit Restaurant is open for lunch and dinner, but be warned that both are closed before midnight every night of the week. Of course the optimal time to go would be sunset.
Manly Ferry & Max Brenner: There are a number of Max Brenner chocolate cafes scattered around Sydney, but combined with a trip across the harbour and the wharf side location this one is a must for the tourist.; There is nothing quite like a trip across one of the world's most picturesque harbours. Catching the Manly Ferry is possibly the cheapest way to see the harbour and is best done with a Sydney sider who can give you a run down of what you are looking at. The trip will take about 30 minutes each way.; Manly itself is surrounded by beaches on three sides, with the main beach facing out to the ocean. Weather permitting, it's a pleasant walk up through the open shopping plaza (the Corso) to the main beach. Keep an eye out for unusual street performers and if you are lucky the sand castle guy will be busy at work. The atmosphere is quite relaxed, as Manly started out as Sydney's beach holiday resort.; Max Brenner Cafes are one of the best spots for a choc-a-holic. They have a range of chocolate drinks and snacks, all of which are hard to beat. I'm not going to rabbit on too much about them, other than to say you must try if you never have and David has a lot more to say on his blog.; If you go on the weekend you can enjoy the Manly Arts & Craft Market, which are located off the Corso on Sydney Rd and run from 9am to 5pm.
Coffee: Cafe Nest: Whilst Nest, 165 Victoria St Potts Point, is often credited with having the best poached eggs for breakfast in Sydney, where I think they really excel is with their coffee. Don't get me wrong, the eggs are pretty good although I prefer the four cheese toast. The coffee at Nest comes from Campos, a Sydney coffee institution that can be found in Newtown with a queue out the front all day every day. I don't know what Nest do with the coffee after they get it from Campos or maybe its simply a special blend that they order, but Nest has the best coffee I have ever tasted in Sydney.
Sydney Architecture Walks: I cannot speak highly enough of these walks! The presenters are passionate about architecture and what it means for a city. All of the walks start at the Museum of Sydney in the city, and include free entry (so either go early and check out the Museum before the walk or head back there afterwards). From there you head off into the city to hear an amazing blend of stories highlighting the history and politics of Sydney set amongst the architecture that makes the city up.; This isn't your average tourist walk where different buildings may be pointed out and glossed over. But rather the gritty side of the city is revealed allowing you to come to your own conclusions on the city's architecture and on why and how Sydney has grown into the city that it is today.
Tetsuya's: Wow, wow and wow is about all I can say about a dining experience at Tetsuya's. You will be treated to one of the best degustation menus in the world; at the time of writing Tetsuya's is ranked 4th in the world.; Tetsuya takes the best ingredients you could possibly get your hands on, combines them in some interesting ways and then presents them in a simple way. All of the dishes are unique and interesting but done so competently and simply that it all seems so natural. If you're a foodie ask for a quick tour of the kitchen - we found the friendly staff more than obliging.; Yes, the price is not that cheap. But, when compared to other restaurants receiving three chef hats in Sydney, Tetsuya's is priced on a par and is sometimes even cheaper. I had heard of people booking their dinner at Tetsuya's before arranging their flights (there is at least a three week waiting list) and since eating there, I now know why.
Stuff to do at night: There are a few tourist things you can do at night that most people don't realise, which can save you valuable daylight hours.; Sydney Aquarium - is open until 10pm every night of the week. If you go at night you miss out on the seals and the penguins which are usually alseep. Otherwise everyone else is still up and about.; Art Afterhours - the Art Gallery of NSW is open until 9pm on Wednesday nights. There is usually a whole programme of free things on as well, making it better than going during the day! Check out their programme for talks, movies, concerts and live jazz in the cafe.
Markets: There are quite a lot of markets going on around Sydney. I'll try and give you a run down of the more popular ones:; Glebe - Glebe is an interesting student area that is undergoing gentrifircation. The markets here have a reputation for being the alternative markets. There is a huge range of things new, second hand, arts, crafts and edilbe goodies. They are open 10am to 4pm every Saturday at the Glebe school grounds, on Glebe Point Rd, Glebe.; Paddington - Located towards the top end of Oxford St around the chruch and school grounds, these are very popular markets that have been going for years. Mostly a collection of things people have managed to make in their spare time. Open 10am to 4pm every Saturday.; Pyrmont - This is the gourmet growers markets on the first Saturday of the month in Pyrmont Bay Park, Pyrmont (in front of the casino). Expect yummy foods and interesting tid bits but the prices are somewhat inflated. From 7am to 11am, you'll need to get there early for the best buys (of course!); The Rocks - This is the tourist market in Sydney. Open 10am to 5pm every Saturday and Sunday in The Rocks, just round from Circular Quay on George St. You will mainly find good quality crafts, homewares, arts, collectibles and some snacks.; Paddy's Markets - Sydney's biggest market in the city. It's more mainstream in that the stalls stock new items, albeit cheap or discounted because of the lower overheads incurred as a result of having a temporary shop front. Some retailers use the markets to extend their reach to consumers and others to sell overstocked items at a discount. The very fresh fruit and veg is plentiful and at excellent prices making the markets worth a visit on a regular basis if your staying for a while. Open from 10am to 6pm on Thursday and from 9am to 4pm on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. They are situated under Market City on the corner of Hay & Thomas Streets in Haymarket.; Sydney Fish Market - Permanently located around in Black Wattle Bay, these markets are awesome to wander around. Make sure you poke your nose into all of the shops that line the car park as well as the main mall like section. There are a number of tours available, check out the web site.
Other things to try:: Sydney Bridge Climb; Taronga Zoo

London

2005-09-30T12:02:00.000+08:00

Some of you may know that a trip to Europe has been in the planning or is that maybe the longing stage for nearly 10 years now. Well finally, it’s happening. And, that explains to a great deal my absence from this blog. Most of my life now exists in little boxes, some marked for storage and other destined for a long sea journey to the UK.

David has managed to get himself a position with Imperial College in London and started work there back on the 1st of September. He initially moved in with my Mum, but has managed to find us a place to live in Maida Vale.

I’ve included a map, but it’s probably a bit hard to read. The large green colour block in the middle is Hyde Park with Buckingham Palace and Westminster just off to the right of that.

The central yellow blob is where Imperial College is located, which is where you will find David most days of the week. The yellow blob at the top is our new place in Maida Vale. Near the bottom is where my Mum is living at the moment.

Click on the map to see a bigger version...

War of the Worlds

2005-07-20T14:53:00.000+08:00

Don't. Just don't. There are a lot better ways to spend an evening, like cutting your nails for example, than watching War of the Worlds.

Obviously if you're a fan you're going to see it anyway and probably should. If you love disaster movies you may like it, and here I'm talking about such classics as Deep Impact. Personally I could never get in to these sorts of movies. I couldn't even switch off and just let it wash over me due to the constant bombardment of visual and audio effects that left me shuddering in my seat from over stimulation. (Hint: you may want to bring ear plugs).

Spielberg took the risk of setting his film in the recent past, probably post September 11. This is a different world to the one that H.G. Welles wrote for. We all view the world through slightly different eyes now. I'm not sure as a director Spielberg managed to capture the way that things have changed, and yet still somehow keep true to the original story idea of humanity being caught unawares, feeling like the supreme creation, and reacting in an almost child like manner to this new threat.

The story line is basic and unfolds in a repetitive manner only found in American films. Just in case you don't get it from watching the movie, because they only tell you five times, the aliens have planted their tripod ships underground many years ago with the alien pilots riding down on lightning bolts from the sky. I suppose I should have warned you about that being a plot spoiler, but the movie is so bad there is hardly anything to spoil.

Character development was pathetic. Everyone raves about the little girl, and yes she is a fantastic actor. Better than Tom Cruise even, who incidentally should avoid singing in any future movies. But at the end of the day we know little of the characters we meet and why we should care more about them than any of the extras we see. If half way through the movie it changed to follow some other random character I would not have been surprised. For a Spielberg movie I was quite surprised at the lack of attachment I felt to any of the characters. Where were my usual tears?

I don't know the first thing about making films, but I'm going to pontificate anyway. If it was my movie, I would have placed it in the past. Sometime around the start of the industrial era when humanity was feeling quite pleased with itself having just invented the mass produced motor car. The sound from the musical is amazing and is instantly recognisable by most people - use it. I was looking forward to hearing it, especially as the opening scene borrows heavily from the narrator in the musical.

I'm not going to comment on the end, except to say it is cheesy. Way too cheesy.

I hope you enjoy cutting your nails instead.

Melbourne

2005-07-12T09:34:00.000+08:00

Well, yes, I'm still around. I managed to get caught up in real life for a change, so I haven't been here much.

Last weekend David went to New Zealand to see his family before heading off to the bright lights of London. I decided to take the opportunity to head down to Melbourne to visit one of my online friends, Joe, and escape the garishness that Sydney can have.

Accommodation choice: the Adelphi. I love staying in boutique hotels, as I’m over the cookie cutter feel of the five stars. I’ve wanted to stay in the Adelphi from the mid 90’s, when I couldn’t afford it. More than ten years on and I can say it was a major disappointment. No doubt it was very cutting edge for its day, but no longer. The balance of austere and Zen in the rooms was just slightly wrong, with the furniture pieces seeming too try hard now. If you want something similar but a lot better, try the Hotel Lindrum.

It is interesting to note the little differences. People walk and drive differently in Melbourne. In Sydney driving, particularly in peak hour, is a somewhat dawdled affair. You never bother rushing anywhere, because you simply can't, you'd be lucky to average 10 kph for the whole trip. Melbourne people on the other hand seem to want to be there already, accelerating hard and breaking at the last possible moment.

It took me a while to get used to the walking there too. In Sydney people are used to walking in very dense crowds, and are usually quite aware of other people. You don't normally just stop in the middle of a walkway, and you always glance around before joining the throng so as not to walk into anyone. In Melbourne I spent most of Saturday nearly bumping into people! People just stop randomly, and always start walking and then look to see if there might be someone in the way. I think it has something to do with allowing more space around people.

Federation Square is a must, if only for the Australian Centre for the Moving Image. Contemporary art is usually something you either love or hate, but when it’s translated into an installation with a level of interaction I think most people can’t help but be interested. Their website doesn’t really do them justice, you'll just need to go and experience it.

I did a fair bit of wondering in and out of shops. There seems to be a lot more support for quirky local designers in Melbourne. The café culture in and around the city arcades feels very bohemian. And the city design itself seems more pretty with statues, fountains and interesting architecture.

When we come back from Europe, I think I’d like to live in Melbourne.