Filmharmonic and London by night 05/06/2006
Up with with a zip on Tuesday for the coming week. Ok, I lied, I woke up vowing to have the mother of all lie ins on Saturday due to naturally screwing up my body clock at the weekend, though you know by now that I rarely sleep anyway on a Sunday night. It's only the desire for wanting more sleep that makes me rue having to get up as thankfully I don't dread the notion of going to work as I did with some previous jobs. Had a client meeting so seemed to spend most of the day in the car either going or coming back. We had a laugh and a fine chicken sandwich from Tesco's. Got back to the office late-ish due to traffic and didn't have time to make my journal entry, which I normally try to do on a Tuesday night.
The fortnight had come round and it was Lost double bill night. This is so the right format to watch this series. You don't get stressed and feel like you've been able to chew on something of real substance. Talking of substance you can't have an event without a decent meal and the evening was commenced with the remainder of my fabulous Spag Bol with garlic ciabatta, sour cream dip (heaven is dipping a hot slice into the cold dip and then taking a bite), pepsi and a muller fruit corner. Good episodes, though I preferred the latter one which dealt with the other group's first 45 days. Considering how long the initial people's story has been dragged out for it was refreshing, rewarding and entertaining to see their whole story in one episode. I'm liking Michelle Rodriguez's character more along with Mr Eko. With our continuing format I feel Lost could be our tentpole TV programme through the summer months.
Went hard again at the gym on Wednesday. I never expect to when I start as it seems the first ten minutes on the running machine always kill me and I contemplate the foolishness and futility of coming to the gym. Still the first half hour was enjoyable for the eye candy though after this I got in the groove and pumped away to some Armin. Nailed out 950 calories this time and was unsurprisingly shagged. Still no noticeable benefit and I do realise that this is because my body has found a balanced stasis. It knows how much I'm burning and requestitions the appropriate energy only from what I shovel down my throat. It's just the final hurdle of dedication that I need to curb my eating and then it will start attacking my energy sorry fat reserves. If I met someone then the desire to keep or impress them would over ride the desire to snack or eat so heartedly and I'm sure the excess stone would be easier to lose. Until then I'll keep chugging along trying not that hard to curb my pleasure of eating unhealthy crap.
I've been toying with the idea of seeing Armin van Buuren as he's going to be playing @Slinky in Bournemouth in the next couple of weeks. It means driving down there on a Friday on my own, partying hard and then driving back. Maybe it will be fun for me to do a road trip by myself. Maybe I can take a wander down by the beach when it's over and watch the sun come up (not that Bournemouth has a beach that faces East). Half of me thinks it could be great seeing him play, enjoying it just for myself and experiencing it alone, yet the cynical side says I'll go all that way expecting some 'road to damascus' enlightenment and in fact it will be crap and I'll crash on the way back when I fall asleep at the wheel. You'd love to think that through the shared love of the music that I'd hook up with other like minded people as I did all those years ago at the Colosseum but the scene has moved on a lot since then and reflects society's distrust of strangers or loners. I'll go for the music, trust Armin to deliver and everything else can be surplus to this. Anyway I checked with some others what Slinky was like (Slinky by the way being a hard house and trance night at The Royal Opera house in Bournemouth) and how long his set will be. As it's going to be 2 1/2 hours I thought I'd give it a go and ordered a ticket, which means I take along the receipt and shouldn't have to queue up.
That night I'd ordered tickets for my brother and I to attend an event called Filmharmonic at The Royal Albert Hall. As you can probably gather form the title it was a night of film scores played by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Bro met me at work and we drove into Central London, entering the congestion zone three minutes after it was no longer in force. We managed to park with ease in my favourite place which is road that runs down the side of Charing Cross station. Ideal place really as its very central to all the stations but when you return is an easy drop onto the embankment which can whisk you out of town reasonably easily. We grabbed a tube marvelling at the sheer volume of city honeys milling the street with their after work drinks with friends. Timescales were tight but I would love to have dawdled a little bit and maybe donated a card or two here and there. Took the tube from Embankment to South Kensington and then ran all the way to the Albert Hall as the show started at 7.30 and our tube must have pulled in at about 7.21 Needless to say with the angle that we approached the hall our entrance door was on the complete opposite side. We bolted in, up the stairs, jumper flapping around my waist, into the toilets for a quick whizz, splash of water to perspiring face though the water was hot and to our seats. The row was full and our seats right in the middle so we made ourselves popular. Sat down, switched off our mobiles, the lights dimmed and off it started. They fired up with Mission Impossible, which felt apt considering the timing of our arrival and then some other tunes. Once I cooled I began to settle into the show and take a look around. The Albert Hall is mightily impressive though the central pit and stage are smaller than they look on the tv. The mushroom noise assister things hanging from the ceiling are fascinating to look at and you wonder how they got them up their and also how they worked out the perfect height to assist in sound reproduction.
The chairs there are uncomfortable seeming to be designed for the someone with very narrow hips and hardly any length in the legs. We were in the cheap seats so I could hardly complain. The show had been billed as a film score extravaganza with the likes of Star Wars, Superman, Rocky and Lord of the Rings. I guess the mold for the evening was set when the annoying compere said they were going to play some Star Wars and then announced it would be an obscure piece from Attack of the Clones. Umm, so it's going to be like this. Get us here under the pretense of playing purely popular stuff and then start hitting us with less well known pieces to either 'educate our simpleton needs' or just fill time. He then introduced a composer who after conducting a piece from Lavendar Girls played a medly from the TV series Maigret, Wycliffe and Hetty Wainthrop investigates! hardly film scores I think. I tried not to get disappointed and consoled myself that the second half is always better. Unfortunately it was not. Once the compere, who by now was beginning to grate had finished plugging the orchestra's latest album we received a medley of Ben Hur, Psycho and some Errol Flynn film which was rather tedious. Then we had another composer who played two scores from two low budget as of yet unreleased films. Naturally not knowing them they dragged and the chairs restrictions became even more noticeable.
What surprised me as well was the amount of coughs, murmurs and clearing of throats that was going on. I've become a little used to, though still intolerant of it, at the cinema but at an event which is purely based around the sense of hearing I would have expected people to make more of an effort to restrain their body chatter. It was incredible, at some points I'd almost start laughing as a cough would start way down below, which gave someone else the confidence to clear their throat and then someone else the confidence to sneeze. It was like a Mexican Cough circulating the auditorium. The middle aged chap next to me even started texting someone during the final two numbers!
Eventually this boring conductor finished to undeserved clapping in my book and I hoped things might pick up. We got the main tune from Schindlers List which is very good with the solo violin piece and then ended on a tune from the new War of the Worlds film. Believe me although it's by John Williams, it's hardly memorable and not the rousing finish you might expect of a once a year 'spectacular'. The main conductor, a Tolga Kashif, who must have had the shits or a bladder problem as he only seemed capable of lasting 15 minutes at a time on his plinth during the evening disappeared, returned, did the cheesy accept the audience praise and then disappeared. They didn't encore with anything and didn't play Rocky. My brother and I were pissed. Ok we hadn't gone there just for Rocky but they had mentioned on the site and I even heard someone in the more expensive seats shout it out but didn't have the courage to run with it and attempt to start a chant. Everyone started to pile out, though some had started leaving with five minutes to go and we waited for people to clear. I was really disappointed. Yes the stuff we knew was good but I couldn't understand that elitist kind of attitude of 'we'll entice the dumb masses in with promises of blockbuster tunes and then give some unknown tracks'. Their website blurb said "to hear the RPO play great music specially scored for blockbuster movies" - I hardly call music from two independant films that haven't even been released and a medley of tv themes a celebration of huge movies. Oh well, you win some, you lose some but after listening to streaming soundtracks for the last couple of days I had been looking forward to some real quality Zimmer, Horner and Williams.
Decided as it was a mild evening to walk from the Hall back to Charing Cross. This gave us a chance to animatedly sound off but also take in the sights. I never get tired of walking round parts of London, especially at night when there aren't so many people around. It wasn't cold or warm but a perfect ambient temperature and not being in a rush we took our time to enjoy the walk and drink in the atmosphere. We must have set off at around 10.00 pm. Walked down into Knightsbridge, paused to look back towards the lit up Harrods, past Harvey Nichols and up to Hyde Park Corner, which naturally was as busy as ever and required us to take the well lit and non intimidatory underpass. Came out on the corner of Green Park and started walking down Constitution Hill, which runs down the side of Buckingham Palace's gardens. Everything was so civilised and so well maintained with neat park benches and a horse track running alongside the pavement with buttons for the pedestrian lights placed at horse rider height. Came out to the front of Buck Palace and took a moment to marvel at it. It's amazing to think what a well known building it is around the world yet here we are in the capital city of our country and we are standing mere yards from it. No visible guards, no searchlights, no fluff and bluster and no feeling that you had to move along. Just good ole Buck Palace going about it's business. The lawns outside were all beautifully maintained and I don't know if they were getting ready for a pageant, trooping the colour or something like that but these huge Union Jacks were on display around Queen Victoria's Memorial and lining all the way up The Mall. It looked really impressive. All the flags were clean, neat and tidy. None were incorrectly hung or the odd one missing and it was heartwarming to see that some real effort had been made. It was quietly patriotic and understated yet it filled me with a real sense of national pride.
Ambled up The Mall, through Admiralty Arch which was similarly festooned with flags and past the covered up statue of Nelsons Column which must be undergoing that needed clean. Jumped back in the car and headed off to the drive through McDonalds near Canary Wharf. I still look at McDonalds as treat's and this was our evening one which though wasn't brilliant as the place was shutting up for the night and thus not freshly cooked was still enjoyable.
I got the lay in I'd thought of at the beginning of the week come Saturday though it was nearly taken away by an impromptu awakening at around 8.00am. Nothing like rolling over on a Sat morning for a couple of hours more kip is there. Watched a little of the build up to England's second friendly match and hit the gym. Was a gloriously warm sunny day and the gym was naturally devoid of women. Managed to push the calorie meter to a 1000 calories burnt this time and certainly felt it. Heading back into the changing room and having difficulty removing the t-shirt because its sodden and seemingly glued to your neck is always a reassuring sign that you have pushed as hard as you can. Sauna, showered and off to the shops feeling great. With the post exercise good vibe and the sun beating down spirits were high. I even bought a pink linen shirt that would nicely accompany a sandy coloured pair of trousers that I'd recently rediscovered in my wardrobe. In Sainsburys I even bought some bits for a ham baguette sandwich. Summer must definately be hear when I contemplate something other than a hot meal on a weekend night.
I was in the mood to go out and wear my new shirt and with the clothing, or lack of, that women were wearing at five in the afternoon was looking forward to seeing some more in their summer evening glad rags. Hooked up with my bro for a drink and then onto a nightclub. I didn't want a big spending night and thankfully a flyer ensured free entry to the nightclub. I drove and thus met my bro in the club which meant I queued alone. The bouncer told me I should cheer up after allowing me in and I did feel like turning round and saying " I'm sorry but even at the age of 34 I'm aware how your arrogant, power crazy, adolescent girl flirting minds work in that if I'm too happy I'll be either refused entry for looking pissed or drugged or for simply not showing humility to your importance" - wanker! The music was ok but there was a hostile mood in the air which maybe I could detect more as I wasn't drinking. After doing some people watching I decided to call it a night and headed home.
Sunday was another great MotoGP race with all the main protagonists duelling for the win. Naturally the commentators said it was the best as it was the one Rossi won but my favourite was still the one in Shanghai. Saying that though this still had it's share of drama and overtaking and I do bow to Rossi's skill in getting his victory. Great racing though a real shame Casey Stoner crashed out as he was doing well and I really like his brand of balls out trying to win in a team that still doesn't have any major sponsors. He's the real underdog and I love routing for them. This really is turning out to be the motor sport event of the year in my book. Did very little else really. Watched the original Poseidon Adventure which was good, did some washing and all the normal relaxing sunday things. Ummed and ahhed about seeing United 93 which I really want to see but decided to hold fire until next Saturday as that will be a quietish one due to paintball being the following day.
The fortnight had come round and it was Lost double bill night. This is so the right format to watch this series. You don't get stressed and feel like you've been able to chew on something of real substance. Talking of substance you can't have an event without a decent meal and the evening was commenced with the remainder of my fabulous Spag Bol with garlic ciabatta, sour cream dip (heaven is dipping a hot slice into the cold dip and then taking a bite), pepsi and a muller fruit corner. Good episodes, though I preferred the latter one which dealt with the other group's first 45 days. Considering how long the initial people's story has been dragged out for it was refreshing, rewarding and entertaining to see their whole story in one episode. I'm liking Michelle Rodriguez's character more along with Mr Eko. With our continuing format I feel Lost could be our tentpole TV programme through the summer months.
Went hard again at the gym on Wednesday. I never expect to when I start as it seems the first ten minutes on the running machine always kill me and I contemplate the foolishness and futility of coming to the gym. Still the first half hour was enjoyable for the eye candy though after this I got in the groove and pumped away to some Armin. Nailed out 950 calories this time and was unsurprisingly shagged. Still no noticeable benefit and I do realise that this is because my body has found a balanced stasis. It knows how much I'm burning and requestitions the appropriate energy only from what I shovel down my throat. It's just the final hurdle of dedication that I need to curb my eating and then it will start attacking my energy sorry fat reserves. If I met someone then the desire to keep or impress them would over ride the desire to snack or eat so heartedly and I'm sure the excess stone would be easier to lose. Until then I'll keep chugging along trying not that hard to curb my pleasure of eating unhealthy crap.
I've been toying with the idea of seeing Armin van Buuren as he's going to be playing @Slinky in Bournemouth in the next couple of weeks. It means driving down there on a Friday on my own, partying hard and then driving back. Maybe it will be fun for me to do a road trip by myself. Maybe I can take a wander down by the beach when it's over and watch the sun come up (not that Bournemouth has a beach that faces East). Half of me thinks it could be great seeing him play, enjoying it just for myself and experiencing it alone, yet the cynical side says I'll go all that way expecting some 'road to damascus' enlightenment and in fact it will be crap and I'll crash on the way back when I fall asleep at the wheel. You'd love to think that through the shared love of the music that I'd hook up with other like minded people as I did all those years ago at the Colosseum but the scene has moved on a lot since then and reflects society's distrust of strangers or loners. I'll go for the music, trust Armin to deliver and everything else can be surplus to this. Anyway I checked with some others what Slinky was like (Slinky by the way being a hard house and trance night at The Royal Opera house in Bournemouth) and how long his set will be. As it's going to be 2 1/2 hours I thought I'd give it a go and ordered a ticket, which means I take along the receipt and shouldn't have to queue up.
That night I'd ordered tickets for my brother and I to attend an event called Filmharmonic at The Royal Albert Hall. As you can probably gather form the title it was a night of film scores played by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Bro met me at work and we drove into Central London, entering the congestion zone three minutes after it was no longer in force. We managed to park with ease in my favourite place which is road that runs down the side of Charing Cross station. Ideal place really as its very central to all the stations but when you return is an easy drop onto the embankment which can whisk you out of town reasonably easily. We grabbed a tube marvelling at the sheer volume of city honeys milling the street with their after work drinks with friends. Timescales were tight but I would love to have dawdled a little bit and maybe donated a card or two here and there. Took the tube from Embankment to South Kensington and then ran all the way to the Albert Hall as the show started at 7.30 and our tube must have pulled in at about 7.21 Needless to say with the angle that we approached the hall our entrance door was on the complete opposite side. We bolted in, up the stairs, jumper flapping around my waist, into the toilets for a quick whizz, splash of water to perspiring face though the water was hot and to our seats. The row was full and our seats right in the middle so we made ourselves popular. Sat down, switched off our mobiles, the lights dimmed and off it started. They fired up with Mission Impossible, which felt apt considering the timing of our arrival and then some other tunes. Once I cooled I began to settle into the show and take a look around. The Albert Hall is mightily impressive though the central pit and stage are smaller than they look on the tv. The mushroom noise assister things hanging from the ceiling are fascinating to look at and you wonder how they got them up their and also how they worked out the perfect height to assist in sound reproduction.
The chairs there are uncomfortable seeming to be designed for the someone with very narrow hips and hardly any length in the legs. We were in the cheap seats so I could hardly complain. The show had been billed as a film score extravaganza with the likes of Star Wars, Superman, Rocky and Lord of the Rings. I guess the mold for the evening was set when the annoying compere said they were going to play some Star Wars and then announced it would be an obscure piece from Attack of the Clones. Umm, so it's going to be like this. Get us here under the pretense of playing purely popular stuff and then start hitting us with less well known pieces to either 'educate our simpleton needs' or just fill time. He then introduced a composer who after conducting a piece from Lavendar Girls played a medly from the TV series Maigret, Wycliffe and Hetty Wainthrop investigates! hardly film scores I think. I tried not to get disappointed and consoled myself that the second half is always better. Unfortunately it was not. Once the compere, who by now was beginning to grate had finished plugging the orchestra's latest album we received a medley of Ben Hur, Psycho and some Errol Flynn film which was rather tedious. Then we had another composer who played two scores from two low budget as of yet unreleased films. Naturally not knowing them they dragged and the chairs restrictions became even more noticeable.
What surprised me as well was the amount of coughs, murmurs and clearing of throats that was going on. I've become a little used to, though still intolerant of it, at the cinema but at an event which is purely based around the sense of hearing I would have expected people to make more of an effort to restrain their body chatter. It was incredible, at some points I'd almost start laughing as a cough would start way down below, which gave someone else the confidence to clear their throat and then someone else the confidence to sneeze. It was like a Mexican Cough circulating the auditorium. The middle aged chap next to me even started texting someone during the final two numbers!
Eventually this boring conductor finished to undeserved clapping in my book and I hoped things might pick up. We got the main tune from Schindlers List which is very good with the solo violin piece and then ended on a tune from the new War of the Worlds film. Believe me although it's by John Williams, it's hardly memorable and not the rousing finish you might expect of a once a year 'spectacular'. The main conductor, a Tolga Kashif, who must have had the shits or a bladder problem as he only seemed capable of lasting 15 minutes at a time on his plinth during the evening disappeared, returned, did the cheesy accept the audience praise and then disappeared. They didn't encore with anything and didn't play Rocky. My brother and I were pissed. Ok we hadn't gone there just for Rocky but they had mentioned on the site and I even heard someone in the more expensive seats shout it out but didn't have the courage to run with it and attempt to start a chant. Everyone started to pile out, though some had started leaving with five minutes to go and we waited for people to clear. I was really disappointed. Yes the stuff we knew was good but I couldn't understand that elitist kind of attitude of 'we'll entice the dumb masses in with promises of blockbuster tunes and then give some unknown tracks'. Their website blurb said "to hear the RPO play great music specially scored for blockbuster movies" - I hardly call music from two independant films that haven't even been released and a medley of tv themes a celebration of huge movies. Oh well, you win some, you lose some but after listening to streaming soundtracks for the last couple of days I had been looking forward to some real quality Zimmer, Horner and Williams.
Decided as it was a mild evening to walk from the Hall back to Charing Cross. This gave us a chance to animatedly sound off but also take in the sights. I never get tired of walking round parts of London, especially at night when there aren't so many people around. It wasn't cold or warm but a perfect ambient temperature and not being in a rush we took our time to enjoy the walk and drink in the atmosphere. We must have set off at around 10.00 pm. Walked down into Knightsbridge, paused to look back towards the lit up Harrods, past Harvey Nichols and up to Hyde Park Corner, which naturally was as busy as ever and required us to take the well lit and non intimidatory underpass. Came out on the corner of Green Park and started walking down Constitution Hill, which runs down the side of Buckingham Palace's gardens. Everything was so civilised and so well maintained with neat park benches and a horse track running alongside the pavement with buttons for the pedestrian lights placed at horse rider height. Came out to the front of Buck Palace and took a moment to marvel at it. It's amazing to think what a well known building it is around the world yet here we are in the capital city of our country and we are standing mere yards from it. No visible guards, no searchlights, no fluff and bluster and no feeling that you had to move along. Just good ole Buck Palace going about it's business. The lawns outside were all beautifully maintained and I don't know if they were getting ready for a pageant, trooping the colour or something like that but these huge Union Jacks were on display around Queen Victoria's Memorial and lining all the way up The Mall. It looked really impressive. All the flags were clean, neat and tidy. None were incorrectly hung or the odd one missing and it was heartwarming to see that some real effort had been made. It was quietly patriotic and understated yet it filled me with a real sense of national pride.
Ambled up The Mall, through Admiralty Arch which was similarly festooned with flags and past the covered up statue of Nelsons Column which must be undergoing that needed clean. Jumped back in the car and headed off to the drive through McDonalds near Canary Wharf. I still look at McDonalds as treat's and this was our evening one which though wasn't brilliant as the place was shutting up for the night and thus not freshly cooked was still enjoyable.
I got the lay in I'd thought of at the beginning of the week come Saturday though it was nearly taken away by an impromptu awakening at around 8.00am. Nothing like rolling over on a Sat morning for a couple of hours more kip is there. Watched a little of the build up to England's second friendly match and hit the gym. Was a gloriously warm sunny day and the gym was naturally devoid of women. Managed to push the calorie meter to a 1000 calories burnt this time and certainly felt it. Heading back into the changing room and having difficulty removing the t-shirt because its sodden and seemingly glued to your neck is always a reassuring sign that you have pushed as hard as you can. Sauna, showered and off to the shops feeling great. With the post exercise good vibe and the sun beating down spirits were high. I even bought a pink linen shirt that would nicely accompany a sandy coloured pair of trousers that I'd recently rediscovered in my wardrobe. In Sainsburys I even bought some bits for a ham baguette sandwich. Summer must definately be hear when I contemplate something other than a hot meal on a weekend night.
I was in the mood to go out and wear my new shirt and with the clothing, or lack of, that women were wearing at five in the afternoon was looking forward to seeing some more in their summer evening glad rags. Hooked up with my bro for a drink and then onto a nightclub. I didn't want a big spending night and thankfully a flyer ensured free entry to the nightclub. I drove and thus met my bro in the club which meant I queued alone. The bouncer told me I should cheer up after allowing me in and I did feel like turning round and saying " I'm sorry but even at the age of 34 I'm aware how your arrogant, power crazy, adolescent girl flirting minds work in that if I'm too happy I'll be either refused entry for looking pissed or drugged or for simply not showing humility to your importance" - wanker! The music was ok but there was a hostile mood in the air which maybe I could detect more as I wasn't drinking. After doing some people watching I decided to call it a night and headed home.
Sunday was another great MotoGP race with all the main protagonists duelling for the win. Naturally the commentators said it was the best as it was the one Rossi won but my favourite was still the one in Shanghai. Saying that though this still had it's share of drama and overtaking and I do bow to Rossi's skill in getting his victory. Great racing though a real shame Casey Stoner crashed out as he was doing well and I really like his brand of balls out trying to win in a team that still doesn't have any major sponsors. He's the real underdog and I love routing for them. This really is turning out to be the motor sport event of the year in my book. Did very little else really. Watched the original Poseidon Adventure which was good, did some washing and all the normal relaxing sunday things. Ummed and ahhed about seeing United 93 which I really want to see but decided to hold fire until next Saturday as that will be a quietish one due to paintball being the following day.
posted by payne by name at 7:54 am
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home