"Free Ticket Holder - Race For Life"

I spent 12 hours today saying this phrase over and over again.  No, I don't have a bizarre obsessive compulsive disorder - I was doing promotions work for Cancer Research UK.  Five of us were posted in Euston Station from 7am handing out pink oyster card holders to advertise the Race For Life campaign.  The Races raise money for Cancer Research and are taking place all over the UK this summer.  It's a really good cause and after an exhausting but successful day, I'm definitely going to be taking part come the summer.  And you should too.  And if you were in Euston Station today, then I hope you took a free card holder from me and weren't one of the meanies who just walked blankly past...

The Macbeth

I investigated a new bar in Shoreditch the other night.  Naked and the Boys were playing a set in The Macbeth, a little bar slightly off the beaten track of Old Street, and my friend is a fan so I went along to keep her company and pretend to know their music.  The music was nothing that special, and I actually preferred the warm up band whose name I can't remember.  The bar is cool though - there is a nice sofa area with a pool table as well as a dancefloor/standing area in front of the stage.  There is also a gallery upstairs but this looks more like someone's living room to me, and it's really just a through passage for smokers to get to the balcony.  

Ashamed no more

I have just seen The Diving Bell and The Butterfly, and now feel that a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders.  You see, it's been plaguing me for a while that even though it was out in the cinema for all to view, I hadn't got round to seeing it for myself.  Call it laziness, call it lack of funds, but there really is no good excuse, and being a bit of a film buff and what with it being the hot topic of conversation and all, I was starting to feel the slight pangs of shame.  But no longer. It has been seen, and I can now talk knowledgably and knowingly on the subject should it ever come up in conversation.  Incidentally, I'm not just happy that I've seen it, but that I really enjoyed the film as well.  I'd highly recommend it, but be sure to read the book first.  That would be a cardinal sin.

  

grumble grumble...

How unfair is it that the Easter weekend is blighted by rain and snow and harsh winds?  This is not the natural order of things, not the way God/Mother Nature intended things to be.  Two extra days off work but no decent weather to be able to enjoy them to their full and proper extent? It's a scandal, and if there was any recognisable authority (the weatherman doesn't count) then I would write a harshly worded letter of complaint...

Vanity Fair

If you're bored in London and looking for something to do, allow me to recommend the Vanity Fair exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery.  Plenty of glamorous pictures on display to interest you, and it makes you feel intellectual and culturally-minded without actually having to go to a stuffy museum...

Room For Another?

I have just been basking in the cinematic delights of Natalie Portman, Scarlett Johansson, Eric Bana et al in The Other Boleyn Girl.  Having heard mixed reviews from both amateur and professional audiences, my expectations were modest, which always bodes well for the film on trial.  With such talented actors the film seemed to be on the right track, but then this wouldn't have been the first film to boast a star-studded cast yet be branded an underachiever. Fortunately, the performances didn't disappoint, and the plot was tense and engaging.  Perhaps it was the fact that I watched this with my sister that made the story of two sisters torn apart all the more poignant, but either way I was surprised to find myself wiping away a little tear at the end (just one, mind - I'm not a big crier).  With such depth of emotion, I'd happily sign myself up to be part of the Boleyn clan.  If it wasn't for all the beheadings, that is....

Glitz and Glamour

You'll have to excuse me if my spelling is a little off and the general calibre of this post is not up to standard - you see I've been asleep most of the day.  And if not asleep then in a kind of zombified state.  Last night was the Empire Awards and the Wrap Party, which didn't end until the wee hours and which was a bit of a marathon event.  As I was working, I was there from 11am, pretending to look busy and important while everyone else rushed round with clipboards and ear pieces and I went on a sandwich run to M&S.  When guests starting arriving  I was in prime position, front of house, to greet them and take tickets, thus enabling me to see all the stars up close and personal like.  It was a very surreal event, having James McAvoy, Ewan McGregror and Matt Damon stroll right by me, and James Corden saying unmentionable things about Keira Knightley on stage.  The highlight of the night had to have been standing next to Guillermo del Toro, Paul Greengrass and Alfonso Cuaron while they chatted together, and then joining in on the conversation.  Incredible.  The free bar at the Wrap Party wasn't bad either...

Setting your mind as ease...

For those of you who were panicking on my behalf, all is ok - I'm off to the Awards! Hooray! I may be going in a working capacity, but I'm going, so it still counts. I'm sure I'll be back on here to tell you all about it...

Comedy Shmomedy

Just got home from a BBC Comedy night.  It was held at the Revue bar in the seedy backstreets of Soho, and Noel Fielding was top billing.  The bar itself is a funky place, with huge mirrors and leather sofas, which become more understandable when you learn that it is a strip club by day (well, by night actually, but other nights, not tonight...).  The food and drinks are fantastically overpriced, so that's a let down.  As for the comedy itself, my friends and I were up for a night of "getting sloshed and having a chortle", as one of my friends put it, and while the price of beverages meant it was a little tricky to carry out the former, we succeeded in the latter.  3 comics preceeded Noel, each with their own style and degree of funniness.  I enjoyed them all in different ways.  The low point wa the compere, who fudged his way through the breaks in talent with his, well, lack of talent.  As for Noel, he was wonderfully weird and did some excellent Mighty Boosh pieces, but he was badly thrown by a revolting woman in the corner who just would not shut up throughout the entire performance.  She was terrible, but he should have handled it better.  But all in all, a great night, and I'll be there at the next show next month for sure.