tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17769989688229499562024-02-19T17:01:58.117+00:00Ways to Read: food & other random things I come across on my eating & travelling adventures : Janhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14432173613077636089noreply@blogger.comBlogger45125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1776998968822949956.post-77559554521592262892016-03-05T12:37:00.000+00:002016-03-05T12:37:58.226+00:00George Street Social, Oxford<span style="font-family: arial;">Where to Eat<b>: <a href="http://www.georgestreetsocial.com/" target="_blank">George Street Social</a></b><br />
Location: <b>Oxford, OX1 2DH</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: arial;">It's been 3 years since I last posted here, but my friend and I have been enjoying the latest restaurant and cafe boom in Oxford, and so it's high time we revive this little blog again and add a few more thoughts in.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioEO-4V2HOPj5BINLwCEyB-jV110zm2QQtioZIES1Fw5ODpV_2IzNUY3A5PtJLhrGOm17c93xEEnIRIgRDlRz9xJJ6DhIaI8L9t-HcmEIpOatFj7m0F5EqxWRcibhVzk4FDYCI_t2gH-k/s1600/IMG_20160304_211621.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioEO-4V2HOPj5BINLwCEyB-jV110zm2QQtioZIES1Fw5ODpV_2IzNUY3A5PtJLhrGOm17c93xEEnIRIgRDlRz9xJJ6DhIaI8L9t-HcmEIpOatFj7m0F5EqxWRcibhVzk4FDYCI_t2gH-k/s320/IMG_20160304_211621.jpg" width="239" /></a><span style="font-family: arial;">George Street in Oxford has seen quite a few changes recently. In the past year, the following popped up: Thaikhun (Thai restaurant), Banana Tree (Indochinese), Beard (pizza-craft beer pub), and now George Street Social, which bills itself as a "</span><span style="font-family: arial;">new coffee, craft beer, cocktail & canteen bar which aims to bring
something a bit different in a sea of tax-dodging coffee shop madness." </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: arial;">The corner spot was formerly occupied by Java & Co, an independent coffee shop that wasn't as slick-looking as the others on the street, but it had quite cosy sofas and a big upstairs lounge area. Perfect for learning to knit (yes I did that once while sipping a hot chocolate) and chilling with friends. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: arial;">Anyway, since last September, the venue was sold to the City Pub Company -- they also run St Aldates tavern near Christ Church. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: arial;">The first word that comes to mind when you see the new makeover: hipsterville! The font, the crockery (wine served in tumblers for example), the blockpainted chairs and tables ... but don't let that put you off. Service is a little bit slow - perhaps there are still teething problems since they only opened a month ago - but we have been there twice now and there are some fantastic elements to their coffee-beer-cocktail canteen. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: arial;">We love that three-quarters of the shop is for lounging, drinking and eating, but that they reserve a section of the place for table service, so if you want proper sit-down meal, you can find a table. </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEQ2725f4rjE-tmWHaqtuIpLK32Zt75OdGdelomMEcnslfj26okt1MAooNraTLj0Y-BQgzBXh7UpAywaL9pSrhA_-bbsRSbHAgCQG8qCbhKEgFLA7LVpd9LfyRgvibcIsS3aeSMGqrrow/s1600/IMG_20160304_212527.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEQ2725f4rjE-tmWHaqtuIpLK32Zt75OdGdelomMEcnslfj26okt1MAooNraTLj0Y-BQgzBXh7UpAywaL9pSrhA_-bbsRSbHAgCQG8qCbhKEgFLA7LVpd9LfyRgvibcIsS3aeSMGqrrow/s320/IMG_20160304_212527.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: arial;">If you are going there to do a bit of reading or work, then George St Social is great - the tables upstairs have lots of plugs, free wifi, warm fleecy booths, and they don't kick you out if you don't refresh your coffee every half hour. They also have lots of board games, secondhand books, and a 'lego building corner' for the inner kid in you. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: arial;">I'm not personally a coffee drinker, so I can't vouch for the coffee quality, but their hot chocolate is absolutely excellent. We can taste real chocolate in it, not the usual cadbury-powdery crap you get in some coffee shops these days. I ordered the hot chocolate on two occasions - the first time was better with very intense flavours, the second time was less so, but still quite good. I will go back there for the hot chocolate. They also do quite a few pastries, including pastel de nata (loved it! although it would be better if it were served warm), cakes and flapjacks.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpzgT7mWG2MwePf4g2KUddhkoVgIsfIGnlH0RTRhc9XKsJaW-b_pbOcUKqFGw5WPBfBjh965ofun1s9Xn2adYqBvEo0VK8gK7Cd1j_TUFxOnSR8EL3eZRC3ZIb_WGnkoA5MIfqCkX8GTI/s1600/IMG_20160304_203250.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpzgT7mWG2MwePf4g2KUddhkoVgIsfIGnlH0RTRhc9XKsJaW-b_pbOcUKqFGw5WPBfBjh965ofun1s9Xn2adYqBvEo0VK8gK7Cd1j_TUFxOnSR8EL3eZRC3ZIb_WGnkoA5MIfqCkX8GTI/s320/IMG_20160304_203250.jpg" width="239" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: arial;">As for their real plates of food, we tried it yesterday and have mixed feelings. Presentation was excellent, but the food was a little pricy, and the descriptions in the menu were not totally accurate. For example, we ordered the '10 hours' pulled beef brisket bap, bbq sauce, wedges & slaw (£11.95). I'm not sure why 10 hours is in quotation marks - probably it wasn't in the oven for that long, but I wouldn't be less impressed if it said 6 hours! Anyway, the bap was fine, just a tad dry for me but my friend liked it, especially whilst dipping into the bbq sauce - but the overriding taste of the bap was the cheese. Cheese was not mentioned in the menu at all! Oh the wedges were very moreish too. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: arial;">I wasn't that hungry, so I ordered from the small plates section the salted cod fish croquette with chorizo salsa and apple puree (£5.95). The croquette was well made, the saltiness was good (better if you have alcohol to soak it all up) but they paired the salty croquette with a chorizo salsa which contained lots of capers. It would have been better to give the capers a miss. However, my friend liked the plate, so yes, a mixed review. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: arial;">We skipped the desserts on the menu because they hovered at six quid, which is more expensive than most upmarket restaurants in town. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: arial;">Overall though, this place is good for chilling out with a cuppa or for after work socialising, but I am not bowled over by the price or quality of the mains. </span>Janhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14432173613077636089noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1776998968822949956.post-73883036793973710202013-03-19T17:20:00.000+00:002016-03-05T11:45:17.722+00:00Edamame<span style="font-family: "arial";">Where to Eat: <b><a href="http://www.edamame.freeserve.co.uk/" target="_blank">Edamame</a></b><br />
Location: <b>Oxford, OX1 3SA</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial";">There<b> </b>aren't a lot of Asian restaurants in Oxford other than Thai and Chinese ones, so it's understandable that a place like <b>Edamame </b>would be continously jam-packed by students and residents galore. <b> </b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial";">The Japanese 'restaurant' Edamame is located conveniently on a quiet street in the centre of town. One unfortunate thing is that it has really odd opening hours (it's closed on certain days, open at different hours on other days) so you must always check their website to make sure it's worth the trek. Anyway, I put 'restaurant' in quotation marks because it's more like a fast food diner, or like <b>Wagamama</b>, where you have to squeeze in and sit with strangers in small square tables. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial";">On Thursdays only, they have <b>sushi </b>nights. The big mistake we made was not checking the closing time. We were relying on the fact that it was pouring rain that day, and thought we can just get there at 7.30pm or so and get a seat quite quickly. The problem was they stop taking orders at 8.30pm, so for half the time, we were wondering whether to go somewhere else or to keep standing in line. But somehow, we were able to get a seat an hour later and make our 'last' order. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial";">The other unlucky thing was that by the time we got to order, the <b>salmon sashimi</b> ran out! That was what I wanted to eat. Oh well, but we could still get the sushi and gunkanzushi sets. Anyway, I went here with a friend who doesn't particularly enjoy sushi, but we decided to go so that I can introduce him to the different flavours, and tell him which raw fish is what. </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFw6p6f2UhQpamqLiqsJ7nI_DKuAgWiQ57ArP0N8-DIWp3XvnTpJhhqFVppev1WxmflFhpVxCXhZhxXIEcDQgmc6b397sf83bXbzAEIymMGpKAjGyarUXzvs-4g6KENzyAZACaWwJOZf9D/s1600/P1030052.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFw6p6f2UhQpamqLiqsJ7nI_DKuAgWiQ57ArP0N8-DIWp3XvnTpJhhqFVppev1WxmflFhpVxCXhZhxXIEcDQgmc6b397sf83bXbzAEIymMGpKAjGyarUXzvs-4g6KENzyAZACaWwJOZf9D/s320/P1030052.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial";">So to sample a bit of everything, we shared between us the nigiri sushi set, and the gunkan set, plus a unagi eel set. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial";">The difference between the <b>nigri</b> and the <b>gunkan </b>set is that the sushi has no seaweed, whereas the gunkan style has a 'boat' like structure, with a seawood as the 'boat', vinegar rice at the bottom, and fresh ingredients at the top (see photo on left).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial";">Some of the ingredients are not raw, for example the avocado gunkanzushi (on the left). The presentation is absolutely beautiful and gorgeously coloured, and every bite is really fresh. It definitely is the best Japanese restaurant in town, and compared to London places, Edamame would still win in terms of price <i>and</i> quality. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial";">I'm not going to go on and on about the raw fish as it's an acquired taste, but really, it's so delicious especially when combined with the <b>soy and wasabi </b>sauce. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial";">Edamame also does non-sushi items on other days and at lunch hour, such as katsu curry and ramen. Overall, this is a good place to check out if you're in Oxford, but be warned about the really bizarre opening hours and the long queues! </span>Janhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14432173613077636089noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1776998968822949956.post-76864505938663469182013-03-05T17:30:00.000+00:002013-03-27T12:37:52.766+00:00The Shard<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Event: <a href="http://www.the-shard.com/views/360.html" target="_blank"><b>The Shard</b></a></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Location: <a href="http://www.theviewfromtheshard.com/" target="_blank"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">T<span style="font-size: small;">hat <span style="font-size: small;">really tall b<span style="font-size: small;">uilding next to London Bridge<span style="font-size: small;"> S<span style="font-size: small;">tation</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></a></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">I got<span style="font-size: small;"> tickets to go up <b>the Shard </b>long before <span style="font-size: small;">it o<span style="font-size: small;">pened to the public. The tickets are pretty much <span style="font-size: small;">solidly </span>sold out <span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">in the</span> upcoming we<span style="font-size: small;">eks </span></span>if you want to pay the regular price, but not to worry! You can walk straight<span style="font-size: small;"> in</span> without lining up<span style="font-size: small;"> if you are ready to cough up a hundred pounds upfront. Yup. This <span style="font-size: small;">pan<span style="font-size: small;">orama event really caters to the <span style="font-size: small;">rich alright. </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">Despite the high price of even the normal tickets (about twen<span style="font-size: small;">ty-five quid)<span style="font-size: small;">, it was really an enjoyable even<span style="font-size: small;">t. The Shard is <span style="font-size: small;">a newl<span style="font-size: small;">y built skyrise<span style="font-size: small;"> <span style="font-size: small;">next to <b>London Bridge Station</b>, and i<span style="font-size: small;">ts <span style="font-size: small;">architect is the lovely <b>R</b><span style="font-size: small;"><b>enzo Piano</b> (also the man who de<span style="font-size: small;">signed those <b><a href="http://www.fletcherpriest.com/renzo-piano-building-workshops-central-st-giles/architecture/office/" target="_blank">crazy-coloured </a></b><span style="font-size: small;"><b><a href="http://www.fletcherpriest.com/renzo-piano-building-workshops-central-st-giles/architecture/office/" target="_blank">Google </a></b><span style="font-size: small;">buildings near Tot<span style="font-size: small;">tenham C<span style="font-size: small;">t Rd).</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span> <span style="font-size: small;">I<span style="font-size: small;">'m not going to write too much about all the architectural details as you<span style="font-size: small;"> p<span style="font-size: small;">robably <b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/architecture-design-blog/2013/jan/08/the-shard-visitors-guide" target="_blank">read </a></b><span style="font-size: small;"><b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/architecture-design-blog/2013/jan/08/the-shard-visitors-guide" target="_blank">about it</a></b> <span style="font-size: small;">e<span style="font-size: small;">lsewhere, so I'll just talk about my experience going up<span style="font-size: small;"> to <b><a href="http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&ved=0CDIQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.theviewfromtheshard.com%2F&ei=sCo1UeyINsa60QWn84DwBw&usg=AFQjCNGwNqqDAZaLmhfPpX96McXBp-L3Fg&bvm=bv.43148975,d.d2k" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: small;">the View</span></a></b></span>. </span></span></span></span></span></span></span>It's always best to gaze over a<span style="font-size: small;"> great <span style="font-size: small;">city</span> if you know <span style="font-size: small;">it well already<span style="font-size: small;">: the price <span style="font-size: small;">of <b>London Eye</b> is expensive, but </span>worth paying for if you<span style="font-size: small;"> can get a lot out of every single minute of staring out into the vista<span style="font-size: small;">, and the same is for the S<span style="font-size: small;">hard. Unlike the Eye<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"> though,</span> you are going to be so far off the ground that<span style="font-size: small;"> it's too easy to get a really foggy view. </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<a href="https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTkr0tdqA68mjjS-MyLUuracE2n2VCbKpowCYzZpgFuuvW2ljWr9g" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTkr0tdqA68mjjS-MyLUuracE2n2VCbKpowCYzZpgFuuvW2ljWr9g" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">I picked a decent time to go up, around 4.30<span style="font-size: small;">pm, hoping to get a view of the sunset and enjoy both the day/night <span style="font-size: small;">shots</span> of London. The <span style="font-size: small;">good thing was that <span style="font-size: small;">it was beautiful and sunny w<span style="font-size: small;">hen I went up. </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">This lasted for about 30-45 min. </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span>After heavy security checks, <span style="font-size: small;">t</span>wo elevators whisk <span style="font-size: small;">you up in a minute to the observation deck on the 68th floor. It's a very slick ride, and all the greet<span style="font-size: small;">ers and elevator <span style="font-size: small;">operators were really professional.</span> </span></span>I was able to use the wonderful <span style="font-size: small;">digital <span style="font-size: small;">telescopes to see as far as <b>Greenwich</b> and <b>Hyde Park/Royal Albert Hall</b>.</span> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">Once the sun began to <span style="font-size: small;">go down,</span> the <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/interactive/2013/feb/01/view-from-top-shard-london-interactive" target="_blank">view<span style="font-size: small;">s</span> w<span style="font-size: small;">ere even more </span>phenomenal</a><span style="font-size: small;"><b> (click on the Dusk view in the in<span style="font-size: small;">teractive!</span>)</b></span>. Everything was layered in gold and <span style="font-size: small;">auburn. All the <span style="font-size: small;">mini</span>ature cars and people and streets<span style="font-size: small;">, hidden by <span style="font-size: small;">long </span>shadows. Then </span></span>the <span style="font-size: small;">fog set<span style="font-size: small;">, and the views were entirely wiped out! So ... I highly advise checking the weather <span style="font-size: small;">to see </span>when <span style="font-size: small;">there would be a clear day before you go up. </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-size: small;">Otherwise</span>, you<span style="font-size: small;">'<span style="font-size: small;">d risk paying a lot <span style="font-size: small;">just to see a lot of grey clouds</span><span style="font-size: small;">. </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"></span>Janhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14432173613077636089noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1776998968822949956.post-59617552296878857772013-02-10T19:57:00.001+00:002013-02-10T19:57:45.288+00:00Bone Daddies Ramen <span style="font-family: arial;">Where to Eat: <b><a href="http://bonedaddiesramen.com/" target="_blank">Bone Daddies Ramen</a></b><br />
Location: <span style="font-weight: bold;">London, W1F 0AR </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: arial;"><b>Tonkotsu Ramen</b>! This specific type of ramen (noodle) soup is all the rage right now, and all for the right reasons. It's super creamy, entirely bad for you, and utterly addictive. It's also very filling, so a bowl of it is perfect for a night of drinking to follow. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: arial;">Anyhow, we've checked out a few ramen places already, but so far, <b>Bone Daddies</b> is the best in town. This is also confirmed by a friend who joined us there, who once lived in Japan for a good few years. He told us not to bother trying anything else except perhaps some appetizers, and that we should just go straight for the Tonkotsu. Of course we did just that. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: arial;">At Bone Daddies, the atmosphere's cosy, but you sit at high tables and chairs so it's not a place to stay and chill out for too long. Plus the queue is quite long (except when you go early), so unless you have no heart, you would feel obliged to vacate the seats once you've finished the food. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: arial;">For starters, we ordered <b>cabbage and miso</b> (£2.50), which is something we`d never do without a recommendation. Doesn`t sound like a tasty combo. But actually it was very good! You tear off a cabbage leaf, and dip it into the pungent plate of miso. Delightful! We`re glad we didn`t order any more (even though the extra topping of <b>cock scratchings</b> sound curiously interesting), as the bowl of Tonkotsu Ramen is huge! It costs £11, which is more expensive than the ones in <a href="http://www.tonkotsu.co.uk/" target="_blank"><b>Tonkotsu</b></a> or <b>Ittenbari</b>, but so far, I'd say Bone Daddies is worth the extra cost (although Tonkotsu is really not far behind! I wouldn't recommend Ittenbari though). </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: arial;">But how to describe the Tonkotsu? It has very tender char siu pork, spring onion, a beautiful 'clarence court egg' (marinated & soft-boiled), bamboo, bean sprouts, and most importantly, a broth that has been boiled with fatty pork bones for 20 hours. Delicious. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: arial;">My favourite is the egg, it's so soft and intense. And tasty. And the broth too, of course. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: arial;">I'm going to try <a href="http://www.shoryuramen.com/" target="_blank"><b>Shoryu</b></a> very soon to see if it's equally good. We're on a Japanese culinary craze these days in preparation for a big holiday to Tokyo, so watch out for more restaurant reviews soon. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial;">However, my next entry will be about going up<a href="http://www.the-shard.com/views/360.html" target="_blank"><b> the Shard</b></a>! Until then ...</span></div>
Janhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14432173613077636089noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1776998968822949956.post-88536660698698384052012-12-31T23:35:00.001+00:002012-12-31T23:42:30.939+00:00Best of 2012<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: arial;">As usual, here's my 'best of the year' list. Again, </span><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-family: arial;">some of the items below are quite dated, but I read/saw it this year). </span> <a href="http://waystoread.blogspot.com/2011/12/best-of-2011.html" target="_blank">Compared to the 2011 list</a>, I seem to be a lot less discerning:</span><br />
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<li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Films:</span> Social Network, Hunger Games, Woody Allen (documentary), Skyfall</li>
<li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Books:</span> Sisters Brothers, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, first half of The Night Circus, Life of Pi, Anna Karenina</li>
<li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Poetry:</span> None this year</li>
<li><span style="font-weight: bold;">TV:</span> Mad Men S5, Veep S1, Brothers and Sisters (All 5 seasons. Don't ask), Great British Bake Off S3, Girls S1, Never Mind the Buzzcocks</li>
<li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Exhibitions/Events:</span> Da Vinci paintings exhibition at National Gallery, Hajj exhibition at British Museum, Circus Show at Roundhouse, Edvard Munch/Chagall/Magritte etc at Sotheby's, Matthew Bourne's Early Adventures, Henley Regatta, Invisible exhibition at Hayward Gallery, Matilda the Musical, Yoko Ono at Serpentine Gallery, Trampoline in Missisauga, London Olympics, Cirque du Soleil - Amaluna, letterpress workshop, Festival of the Nerd tour, Anish Kapoor at Lisson Gallery, Photography and Art exhibition at National Gallery, World Press Photo 2012 at Southbank, Harry Potter Warner Bros Studio Tour, Wildlife Photography 2012, </li>
<li><b>Concerts: </b>Chris Ogden (guitarist) live, Joshua Bell at Barbican, Norah Jones at Southbank, Metric concert <b> </b></li>
<li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Comedy: </span>Sarah Millican live, Austentatious improv, Ross Noble Mindblender Tour <span style="font-weight: bold;"></span></li>
<li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Places:</span> Village Voice bookshop in Paris, Musee Orangerie in Paris, TS Eliot`s grave, West Bay, Southall Gurdwara, Piano Bar in Kensington, Blenheim Palace gardens, City Lights in San Francisco, streetcars in SF, Sausalito, Muir Woods, Getty Center in Los Angeles, Salisbury cathedral, All Soul's College, Mount Olympus in N. Greece, Alexander the Great's family tombs, Halkidiki Beaches (nr Thessaloniki)</li>
<li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Food/Beverage:</span> Sakura in London, Polidor in Paris, Le Loir dans la Théière in Paris, Comptoir Libanais in London, Kazbar in Oxford, Huffkins in Cheltenham, Princi in London, Cote Brasserie in London, Island Bar & Restaurant in London, Wahaca, burgers at Byron, tacos in Mission area in San Francisco, Ice cream (Harry Slocombe etc) in San Francisco, #2 tripadvisor spot at Lymington, The Trout in Oxford, Guu in Toronto, Cote Brasserie </li>
<li><b>Food Special mentions </b>(these are not the 'best' but they are very good, I visit them over and over again): Kowloon Bakery London, Jens Cafe, Bangkok House in Oxford, Ed Diner's milkshakes, Tim Horton's iced capp in Canada, Branca in Oxford </li>
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Low points:</div>
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<li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Books: </span>Second half of The Night Circus, </li>
<li><b>TV: </b>New Girl after the first few episodes, </li>
<li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Films: </span>Cafe de Flore, Dark Knight Rises<span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span></li>
<li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Food: </span>Zizzi's</li>
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<span style="color: #990000;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Have a happy and safe new year! </span></b></span> <br />
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Janhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14432173613077636089noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1776998968822949956.post-51295917635337579192012-12-10T20:58:00.002+00:002012-12-10T21:02:21.637+00:00Matthew Bourne's Sleeping Beauty<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
What: <a href="http://www.sadlerswells.com/show/Matthew-Bournes-Sleeping-Beauty" target="_blank"><b>Matthew Bourne's Sleeping Beauty</b></a><br />
Location: <b>Sadler's Wells </b></div>
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I love Matthew Bourne ballets (<a href="http://waystoread.blogspot.com/2010/12/matthew-bournes-cinderella.html" target="_blank">see my old review of <b>Cinderella</b></a>). They never have a dull moment, and they are always highly entertaining. Earlier this year, I went to his <b>Early Adventures</b> show, and he went on stage afterwards to talk to the audience. It turns out that he attends *every* single show of his own work (if he can help it), so that he can study how audiences react to his choreography. Amazing! I can see why his ballets are such successes. </div>
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So anyway, I went to the sold out show of <b>Sleeping Beauty</b> at Sadler's Wells, and the ballet lives up to expectations. </div>
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This is Sleeping Beauty with the original <b>Tchaikovsky</b> score, but with a big Bourne-style twist. There's the usual gender changes (male/female reversals) and the added contemporary humour, but there's a bigger transformation still. It might have been a big mistake for me to not read the full description of the show carefully: billed as <b>Sleeping Beauty: A Gothic Romance</b>, it says </div>
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We meet our heroine, Aurora, at her Christening, when fairies and
vampires fed the gothic imagination, before the story moves forward a
century to the modern day. </blockquote>
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Since I <i>didn't</i> read this beforehand, you can imagine my confusion when the fairy godmother (or godfather rather) <i>started biting the neck </i>of one of the protagonists. </div>
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<i>[Spoiler alert, although you can guess this easily ...] </i></div>
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I also didn't understand how the hero who you meet 100 years ago can still be alive 100 years later to save the sleeping princess (in the original ballet, the hero only appears 100 years later to save the day), but now it all makes sense if you realize that the hero turned into a vampire! I thought I caught a lot of different allusions, like Phantom of the Opera, or Grimms ... but maybe the allusions were really just to Bram Stoker and Anne Rice or Twilight films. </div>
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I am not entirely sure the idea of fairy vampires really work (vampires shouldn't really have wings!), but the dancers won me over: they were very captivating and evocative. Beautiful sets and costumes. I love Bourne's sense of humour ... there's a very funny use of puppetry to make young Aurora (well, baby) come alive.<br />
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The one thing I didn't really like is the set for the final scene, when the story fast forwards 100 years later to 'Last Night'. 'Last Night' is set in a nightclub that reminds you of really cheesy 80s music and awful flourescent lighting. Yuck. I can't stand it. However, it was in this scene that my absolute favourite bit of the Tchaikovsky score came on: if you have watched <b>Disney</b>'s version of Sleeping Beauty, you would have heard the creepy tune as evil <b>Maleficent</b>'s theme tune. If you've seen the original ballet (not the Bourne version), you would have known it as the <b>Puss in Boots </b>theme: <br />
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The music's absolutely creepy and it's fantastic! Bourne used it well by totally removing the 3rd act of the original ballet and using the music as part of the tense dungeon/nightclub scene (when the hero in disguise tries to rescue his heroine). <br />
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Also, can I just reiterate that it is a great move to remove the 3rd act? I've been to the Royal Ballet to see this (note above youtube clip), and the 1st act is when Aurora's young, 2nd act is when she's asleep and the prince comes and rescues her (without much obstacles, which is quite disappointing) and the 3rd act is ALL about their wedding and different fairytale characters dancing tributes for them. How utterly boring and strange to have the 'happily ever after' last a third of the performance.<br />
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Anyway, none of that in Bourne's ballet. He got a huge ovation at the end, and it really is well deserved. Go see it!</div>
Janhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14432173613077636089noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1776998968822949956.post-91018565416471194262012-12-02T21:57:00.000+00:002012-12-02T21:59:36.475+00:00Hot Chocolate Review: Montezuma No. 5 Mint<span style="font-family: arial;">Brand: <a href="http://www.montezumas.co.uk/chocolate-gifts/mint-drinking-chocolate.html" target="_blank"><b><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Montezuma's <span style="font-family: arial;">No. 5 </span>Mint Drinking Chocolate </span></b></a><br />Score: <b>7.5 / 10</b> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial;">Where to get it: </span><b><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Montezuma website or stores </span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">This is long overdue, but I've been meaning to write up some reviews of hot chocolate brands. I live in a household that values hot chocolate above all (by 'all', I mean coffee and tea), and we have quite a collection. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I am going to try and review every hot chocolate brand that we have previously enjoyed (or will enjoy if we come across a new brand), and perhaps also share with you some of hot chocolate cafe recommendations. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">There is no real reason why I'm starting off with <b>Montezuma</b>. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">So first off: Montezuma <a href="http://www.montezumas.co.uk/chocolate-gifts/chocolate-for-drinking.html" target="_blank"><b>No. 5 Mint Chocolate</b></a>. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Dark chocolate - yum! And with peppermint too. This mix blends in well and is very smooth, with a good aftertaste. It comes in chocolate flakes, and you basically have to heat your milk hot enough to get the flakes to melt. We recommend microwaving a cup of milk for 2 minutes, then stir the flakes in. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Usually, hot chocolate that comes as flakes means that they can be charged at a more expensive rate, but at <b>£6.29 </b>for 300g, it's quite reasonable. Packaging is quite slick too: you get a bag of the mix with a resealable top. Convenient! Verdict: <b>7.5/10</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"></span>Janhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14432173613077636089noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1776998968822949956.post-38980159429121709612012-11-25T22:52:00.001+00:002012-11-25T22:52:21.661+00:00Ross Noble: Mindblender <span style="font-family: arial;">What: <a href="http://www.rossnoble.co.uk/tour/" target="_blank"><b>Ross Noble's Mindblender Tour</b> </a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial;">Locations: <b>Touring around UK and rest of world</b></span><b><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.cirquedusoleil.com/en/shows/amaluna/tickets.aspx" target="_blank"></a></span></b><br />
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<a href="http://mancunianmatters.co.uk/files/mancunianmatters/imagecache/full_image/ross%20noble%20mindblender%20tour%20uk%20comedy.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://mancunianmatters.co.uk/files/mancunianmatters/imagecache/full_image/ross%20noble%20mindblender%20tour%20uk%20comedy.png" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Ross Noble</b> performing live is quite something. Unlike other comedians like <b>Eddie Izzard </b>or <b>Bill Bailey</b> who have a pretty strict script/sketch to follow, Ross' show seems a lot more improvisatory than anything else. He spends a lot of time interacting with the audience, mocking the ones he can hear and see, and inviting hecklers to join in and contribute to the performance. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">This adds a lot of excitment as you never know what you'll get, but it's quite a risky thing too, as Ross also likes going on tangents and just say whatever he can think of. And he thinks of pretty random things. From stories about his 'human child' to milking cows. From mocking a phelgmatic man to doing a song and dance about demons and <b>The Exorcist</b>. And from responding to the heckler to <b>Schr</b></span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b><span class="st">ö</span>dinger's cat. </b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">They're all great, but right near the beginning, he started poking fun at a man with a crutch, which ... led to jokes about <b>the Paralympics</b>, and when he tried to apologise if he offended anyone in any way, a lady at the back of the theatre shouted really loudly that it was really extremely offensive to make fun of disabled people. It got the room quite tense for a long time after that. I knew that he would get in trouble right when he went off on a tangent about the games, even if he was doing it in good humour. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">My friend didn't enjoy it after that, which was a shame, but I thought there were still a lot of brilliant moments. Some of his jokes were clearly planned in advance, like on the <i>au courant </i>topics of <b>Fifty Shades </b>and <b>Jimmy Savile </b>(the Savile sketch he did had a fantastic impersonation of Eddie Izzard. It was possible my favourite part of the show). He did a really interesting time-space continuum trick as well as his finale (which I won`t reveal here, but suffice to say, it had something to do with the mind of a jelly). Also his impersonation of the whispering<b> Batman</b> and the muffled Baine was absolutely spot on. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Although he`s not always so PC, I still love his humour: it's really quirky and unusual, and so for that, I'd recommend this tour. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">PS: I just read <a href="http://mancunianmatters.co.uk/content/09116624-comedy-review-ross-nobles-mindblender-tour-palace-theatre-manchester-%E2%80%93-november-8" target="_blank">this review</a>, and it turns out I was wrong. Schr</span><span class="st"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">ödinger's cat is a pre-planned joke!</span></span>Janhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14432173613077636089noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1776998968822949956.post-10929797129603579832012-11-05T22:03:00.000+00:002012-11-05T22:03:01.205+00:00Anna Karenina, Part 2 of 2<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="font-family: arial;">Title: <b>Anna Karenina, Part 2 of 2</b><br />Author: <b>Leo </b></span><b>Tolstoy </b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Back to <b><a href="http://waystoread.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/bookstart-share-20-books-in-2012-kurt.html" target="_blank">Book #13</a></b>, <b>Anna Karenina</b>. It's actually a bit unfair that I wrote Part 1 of my comments when I've read over 75% of the book, but actually the last 120 pages are quite interesting and different</span>.<br />
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<span style="color: #351c75;"><i>Spoilers alert. Please don't read on if you don't want to know the ending. </i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Near the end, <b>Anna Karenina </b>takes on a strange persona - more and more characters find her incredibly beautiful and bewitching, and she feels very different in personality. I find myself hating her more and more and yet strangely attracted to her as well. What a monster! Actually, by the very last few pages of her point of view, I just really couldn't stand her anymore. She's unwanted by society, she loses a lot of things (status, family, respect, etc) and rightly, she should feel upset<i>. </i>For the better part of the novel, she manages to hang on to her dignity. </span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">At the very end though, she turns incredibly delusional,
becomes highly jealous of her partner's every action and distorts
reality to the point where I can't even sympathize with her plight
anymore. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Needless to say, Anna does not have a happy ending. What is strange is that even at the end of her life, when you think she has <i>finally chosen</i> her fate, she is robbed of that self-agency ... she wavers between wanting to end her life and not wanting to, and right when she's supposed to make a decision ... well ... the decision was made for her. Tolstoy is so cruel! </span><br />
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My interpretation of the book has been highly shaped by the book's preface ... there I learned that in the midst of writing this novel (over the span of a few years), <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leo_Tolstoy" target="_blank"><b>Tolstoy's world view</b></a><b> </b>changed from atheistic (or agnostic?) to one controlled by religious angst. As you can imagine, Tolstoy started off writing the novel with plenty of sympathy for his heroine, a woman who decides to put love above family and religion, but by the end, he can't understand her perspective anymore, and have to make up ridiculous, irrational thoughts for Anna to justify her actions. It makes me a bit annoyed.<br />
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So, is <b>Anna Karenina </b>still a great novel? Yes, for the majority of the book, I really enjoyed following every single character's thoughts and actions. Tolstoy is a great master ... my only impossible wish is: what if he finished writing the novel in one year, instead of four? What if! Would Anna be living happily ever after? <br />
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I still recommend this book to everyone who can put aside a huge chunk of time for reading ... it only took me two months to finish.</div>
Janhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14432173613077636089noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1776998968822949956.post-11668032032287475812012-10-23T16:21:00.000+00:002012-10-23T16:23:33.406+00:00Anna Karenina, Part 1 of 2<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="font-family: arial;">Title: <b>Anna Karenina, Part 1 of 2</b><br />Author: <b>Leo </b></span><b>Tolstoy </b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">For lucky <b><a href="http://waystoread.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/bookstart-share-20-books-in-2012-kurt.html" target="_blank">Book #13</a></b>, I'm going to talk about <b>Anna Karenina</b>. </span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I'm </span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">more
than halfway through Tolstoy's epic, but since this book really is
massive, it's probably prudent to write about it in two separate
entries. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">What
can I say about Anna K? Well, the first is that I have been meaning to
read this book for ages. It's been on my list since school, but
obviously, other (shorter) books got in the way of our relationship.
With all the film advertisements going on this year about Anna K though,
plus the fact that I now own an e-reader and no longer have the excuse
that it's 'too heavy' to travel around with Anna K, I finally decided
take the plunge. </span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></b></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">And is it worth it so far? </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Yes! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">This is </span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">cheesy,
but the more you read this book, the more it grow on you. It's
definitely not an instant gratification: you need to invest a lot of
time and energy to sit still and read it. But once you get started, the
more you read about each character, the more you empathize with their
point of view. And even though you discover that each character is very
flawed, each in their own unique way, they are all perspectives that you
can <i>understand</i> and get to know deeply. </span></div>
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>You say that everything is very simple and interesting</i><br />
<i>it makes me feel very wistful, like reading a great</i><br />
<i> Russian novel does</i></blockquote>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
from <i>Yesterday Down at the Canal</i>, <b>Frank O'Hara</b>, 1961</blockquote>
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<a href="http://rupertsmithfiction.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/anna20karenina.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://rupertsmithfiction.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/anna20karenina.jpg" width="155" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I
think I read it at a right time in my life, when I have more of an
understanding about the human psyche. It is so fascinating to read these
Tolstoy characters constantly changing their minds, constantly loving
and hating </span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">their lovers
and families, constantly behaving in contradictory ways and
misunderstanding each other ... and it's just all so real. </span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">What
I like about it is that even though it was written in the 1870s, the
worries, the fears, and the joys are still very much the same 150 years
later. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">A few other </span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">notes for now: </span><br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Wikipedia</b> just informed me that Anna Karenina started as a newspaper serial. That's why it's so long ... just like Dickens!</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">the Russian names are not too hard to follow. I remember <b>Crime & Punishment</b>
being a lot more confusing, and even though you meet a lot of
characters in Anna K, it's still quite easy to recognize each person.
Perhaps this is due to the good translation. </span></li>
<li>this book is like <b>Joyce's Ulysses</b>, in that it's an
encyclopedia, covering all sorts of topics from farming techniques to
current philosophies to pedagogy to history ... fascinating!</li>
<li>I actually enjoy the <i>other</i> storyline more than Anna
Karenina's storyline. Yes, everyone knows the ending to Anna K, but no
one ever talks about Levin, who is the other main character. I love his
point of view! He's so quaint, so cute and awkward, so unsociable, so
idealistic yet practical ... </li>
<li>other people have commented on the 'floating' <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/aug/31/rereading-anna-karenina-james-meek" target="_blank"><b>omniscient narration</b></a>
... it's really funny reading the point of view of random people, and
not only that, of dogs and children's perspectives. Very humourous. </li>
</ul>
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<b>Part 2</b> will follow once I finish the book.</div>
Janhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14432173613077636089noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1776998968822949956.post-85412032795019383912012-10-11T15:02:00.000+00:002012-10-16T16:04:12.350+00:00Cirque du Soleil: Amaluna <span style="font-family: arial;">What: <a href="http://www.cirquedusoleil.com/en/shows/amaluna/default.aspx" target="_blank"><b>Cirque du Soleil, Amaluna</b></a><a href="http://www.inspiredlabs.co.uk/oxfordscooking/" target="_blank"><b></b></a><br />
Locations: <a href="http://www.cirquedusoleil.com/en/shows/amaluna/tickets.aspx" target="_blank"><b>touring </b></a></span><b><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.cirquedusoleil.com/en/shows/amaluna/tickets.aspx" target="_blank">Canada, USA ... and probably worldwide soon</a></span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I'm not a newbie to the world of Cirque du Soleil, so I went to see the <b>Amaluna </b>show without too high an expectation, but boy was it good. As usual, <b><a href="http://www.cirquedusoleil.com/en/home.aspx#/en/home/about/details/history.aspx" target="_blank">Canada's best known circus group</a></b> Cirque du Soleil<b> </b>performs with just the barest of storylines to hold all the different acrobatic acts together.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Amaluna is loosely based on <b>Shakespeare's</b> <a href="http://www.cirquedusoleil.com/en/shows/amaluna/show/about.aspx" target="_blank"><b>The Tempest</b></a>, but with the added twist of focusing on women. For the first time ever, there are more women cast members than men (in fact, 70% of the cast are females). I took my family to see it and they much preferred the show without referring to the plot. </span><br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/hUcvPPUMinA?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">But despite the lack of a good narrative, the show is outstanding. I love circuses of all types, and my whole family does too (some of us have been to circus school training for a very short time!) ... and the thing that strikes us the most is watching the mind-blowing feats that human bodies can do so smoothly, sinuously and most of all, so effortlessly! There are trampoline acts, highwire balancing acts, pole acts, aerial silks, unicycles, juggling, balancing etc, and all the performers make each movement look so easy to do, even though they're very hard. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">In a lot of circus shows, performers try to do the most 'impressive' acts to audience members that are none the wiser, and most of the time they would stick to technically easy yet visually impressive moves. However, with <b>Cirque du Soleil, </b>they don't just try to wow you with one visual stunt after visual stunt: they actually execute incredibly difficult techniques perfectly! My juggler/unicycling friend was very pleased to see the main juggler in this show perform with five, even six balls, and doing really fantastic stunts. On top of that, the twin unicyclists are incredible, they could spin on the spot and next to each other in intricate swirls, all done in very, very fast movements. Very impressive! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">My personal favourites are the lead male and female characters' own specialties: the female does body-twisting dives and bends inside a fish-bowl like tank, and the male climbs up and down a pole like it's a walk in the park.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Amaluna is a travelling show, so they set up temporary <b>circus tents </b>like they would back in the 1800s. Very old school, very intimate, so even with the cheapest seats (where we sat), you would get pretty good views.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">My only negative point would be the music. I found it too loud and overwhelming, full of blasting rock sequences and I much prefer if the music is softer, more delicate (i.e. rather the violin than the electric guitar). But then again, the bursts of visual and audio splendour are the signature styles for this very conspicuous circus troupe. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">If you've never seen Cirque du Soleil, you should start with this one, and if you're a seasoned attendee, you should still give this a try. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">PS: we also recently saw circus show <b><a href="http://dance.southbankcentre.co.uk/2012/05/08/new-circus-show-cantina-in-photos/" target="_blank">Cantina's performance</a></b> in London, UK. It has a very different aesthetic from Cirque du Soleil: more old-style french, bohemian/burlesque. The show's already over, so I won't write a review now. </span>Janhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14432173613077636089noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1776998968822949956.post-18088154977748971452012-09-07T16:04:00.001+00:002012-09-13T13:54:16.044+00:00Oxford's Cooking<span style="font-family: arial;">Where to get the best salad: <a href="http://www.inspiredlabs.co.uk/oxfordscooking/" target="_blank"><b>Oxford's Cooking</b></a><br />
Location: </span><b><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Oxford, OX2 6HA</span></b><br />
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<a href="http://www.dailyinfo.co.uk/food/venue-pics/woodstock-deli.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://www.dailyinfo.co.uk/food/venue-pics/woodstock-deli.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">This place is absolutely delicious. The first time I went, a friend took me there for lunch, and back then it was called <b>Woodstock Rd Deli</b>. I was really impressed with the freshness of the food. The only thing that was disappointing was the price: you pay by weight, so if you ordered a particularly heavy salad, there goes your pocket money. So the second time I went, I picked the lightest of salads to beat the system. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Anyhow, since then, they have changed hands (I think), and renamed themselves as <b>Oxford's Cooking</b>. Still the same layout, a cozy little kitchen setting with lots of little treats and kitchen gifts you can buy, but also a long counter full of flavourful vegetarian salads. They also serve hot foods with meat and other options, but </span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">so far, there has been no point trying those because their salads are stunning. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">If I can make these types of salads at home, I'd definitely turn vegetarian! They now charge by the number of salad types you order, for example £3.50 for 3 types of salads in a takeaway box, so that's way more reasonable than in the past. It's a hefty little box: you get various salads to choose from. Lentils and broccoli to <b>mozzarella balls</b> (they're huge!) and roasted tomatoes, butternut squash crisps and many other fresh options, like couscous, <b>quinoa</b>, etc. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">When you finish choosing, you are also given the option of some roasted<b> sunflower seeds</b>, which is free and makes a perfection addition to the little box of goodness. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">It turns out they're the sister branch to <b>Alpha Bar</b>, which is located in the Oxford Covered Market. I'll have to try that place out, although it seems quite similar. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">PS: According to <b><a href="http://www.dailyinfo.co.uk/reviews/venue/529/Oxfords_Cooking" target="_blank">another review</a></b>, they are also very good with gluten-free or lactose-free choices.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">PPS: </span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Since I wrote this up, I've heard they are renovating yet again. They're re-opening on 14 Sep. I'll have to check out their new look soon. </span><b><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></b>Janhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14432173613077636089noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1776998968822949956.post-34209852781297843262012-08-29T16:01:00.000+00:002012-08-29T16:03:40.603+00:00Matilda the Musical<span style="font-family: arial;">Event: <a href="http://www.matildathemusical.com/" target="_blank"><b>Matilda the Musical</b></a><a href="http://www.inspiredlabs.co.uk/oxfordscooking/" target="_blank"><b></b></a><br />
Location: </span><b><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Cambridge Theatre, London</span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">By popular demand, I've decided to write another post related to Roald Dahl. In the last three years since <b><a href="http://waystoread.blogspot.co.uk/" target="_blank">Ways to Read</a> </b>began, the most popular post has been (and still is, surprisingly) the one about <b><a href="http://waystoread.blogspot.com/2010/10/quentin-blake-roald-dahl-journey.html" target="_blank">Roald Dahl and Quentin Blake</a></b>. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">So anyway: the musical adaptation of Roald Dahl's novel <b>Matilda</b> is very funny. Even my friend, who doesn't enjoy musicals usually, really liked this one. Cambridge Theatre is not a bad venue, though some of the higher (aka cheap) seats are quite steep and not for the faint of heart. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The story is about a smart little girl who's not appreciated by her family. She attends a school that has a lovely teacher but a horrid and evil headmistress. The music is great and the lyrics are sharp and humourous, all thanks to <b>Tim Minchin</b>. I don't always like his style of <a href="http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CGEQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.timminchin.com%2F&ei=hZgrUMnpH8aR0AWJsIG4Dw&usg=AFQjCNF5SZUZylSmRV-OqIyevkQSYqiIRg&cad=rja" target="_blank">quirky/black comedy</a> but in <b>Matilda</b>, there's a good combination of dark humour and a childlike sense of hope. This is important since this musical is primarily aimed at children. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">We went to a Sunday matinee, and about 80% of the audience are children. That can get slightly annoying when they start whining, kicking the seat in front, or singing along off tune ... but it adds an extra layer of irony because the musical starts off with spoiled schoolchildren on stage singing about how great (and spoiled) they are ... and the children in the audience sing along. Ha. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The songs are quite catchy. I'd say the style is rather like the <a href="http://www.wickedthemusical.co.uk/" target="_blank"><b>Wicked</b></a> musical - very jarring at times but it works in this context. My favourite numbers are 'Miracle', 'When I Grow Up' (see top clip), and 'School Song' (above), which cleverly incorporates the <b>ABCs into the song</b>. The stage setup is also very creative and I particularly liked the scene changes and use of space. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Is it well-adapted? Yes! The storyline changes slightly to accommodate the parallel backstory of another character other than Matilda, but in order to keep the suspence, Tim Minchin creatively made Matilda imagine a fairytale that </span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">eventually </span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">turned out to be true. I can't say anymore because I don't want to spoil the story in case you haven't read the book (or <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0117008/" target="_blank"><b>seen the film</b></a>). </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The tickets are constantly sold out well in advance, so I'd advise booking at least two months ahead. </span>Janhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14432173613077636089noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1776998968822949956.post-3654079052767747712012-08-15T12:20:00.002+00:002012-08-15T12:20:28.208+00:00Yoko Ono - To the Light<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Event: <a href="http://www.serpentinegallery.org/2011/03/yoko_ono_to_the_light.html" target="_blank"><b>Yoko Ono - To the Light </b></a><a href="http://www.nhm.ac.uk/visit-us/whats-on/temporary-exhibitions/wpy/" style="font-weight: bold;"></a><br />Location: <span style="font-weight: bold;">Serpentine Gallery, Hyde Park</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><b>Yoko Ono </b>is an interesting figure: people either love her or hate her. I think that if you only consider her in light of John Lennon, then of course you might not see her favourably, but as an individual performance artist and as someone that influences others artistically, she is quite phenomenal. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: arial;">I saw a huge Yoko Ono retrospective about a decade ago at the <b><a href="http://www.ago.net/yes-yoko-ono" target="_blank">AGO</a></b>, and really fell in love with her quirky, minimalist style. A lot of her artworks are so pared down that you don't really see anything. All you see is a piece of paper with words written on it, but what the words get the viewer to do is infinite. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: arial;">According to legend, Lennon saw Ono's <b>Ceiling Painting </b>(right), climbed up the ladder to see the painting that said 'YES!' and <a href="http://www.arttowermito.or.jp/art/yokoono.html" target="_blank">fell in love with her</a>. I find that idea very beautiful. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Anyway, Ono makes the viewer work for their pleasure. For example, she uses a lot of words to accompany her art: in <b>The Pointedness </b>(below), there's a glass ball on display and the words 'This sphere will be a sharp point when it gets to the far corners of the room in your mind.'</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Is this bullshit? Or is something really interesting going on? It's for you to decide, but for me, I really like the fact that she uses the viewer's power of imagination to complete the artwork, even if, in real life, you can't really make the statement come true. A sphere will never have a point simply by definition of being a sphere. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The exhibition is free, and <a href="http://www.serpentinegallery.org/2011/03/yoko_ono_to_the_light.html" target="_blank"><b>Serpentine Gallery</b></a> is a lovely gallery. Now that Olympic is over, it'll be easier to find the exhibition (the crowd control routes during the Games made the walk really frustrating). </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: arial;">PS: next door is the annual temporary <a href="http://www.serpentinegallery.org/2012/02/serpentine_gallery_pavilion_2012.html" target="_blank"><b>Serpentine Pavilion</b></a>, and this year, the designer/architect is <b>Ai Weiwei</b>. Quite an interesting structure, but I think I preferred previous versions more. </span></span>Janhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14432173613077636089noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1776998968822949956.post-48716407007992064142012-08-10T15:39:00.001+00:002012-08-10T15:42:16.293+00:00All is Song & The Still Point<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
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Title: <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/All-Song-Samantha-Harvey/dp/022409632X" target="_blank"><b>All is Song</b></a></span></div>
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Author: <b>Samantha Harvey</b><a href="http://www.eljamesauthor.com/about-the-author" target="_blank"><b></b></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;">Her first book was <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Wilderness-Samantha-Harvey/dp/0099526530/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpt_2" target="_blank"><b>The Wilderness</b></a>, and it was a stunning novel about someone losing their life to Alzheimer's. Actually, this is shocking, but in my memory I mixed up The Wilderness with <b><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7875788-the-still-point" target="_blank">The Still Point</a></b>, which is yet another beautiful novel. I also highly recommend that one! In fact, that will be <b>Book #12</b>). So ... it turns out I forgot what Harvey's first book was about. Oops. Anyway, I still remember her as a fantastic writer, and the book was a bittersweet story that felt entirely too real. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;">Now <b>All is Song</b> is not dissimilar: it is about Leonard and William, two middle-aged brothers, both still grappling with the meaning of life in different ways, but one of them is very much like a modern-day Socrates. William is a frustrating character to like simply because he questions everything around him to the point where you lose sense of the original question. The book is deeply philosophical, and it brings to memory all the things I used to read and learn in philosophy classes. Or in the Matrix: if you can see that the world is lying to you, would you rather live in the lie, or see the real truth? The red pill or the blue pill? Ok, so the book is totally not sci-fi, but it deals with the same issues about how complacent most human beings are with the world, how we just accept statements as facts just because it's what the majority of people thinks, and not because it's the absolute truth. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b>All is Song</b> is beautifully written. The narrative moves very slowly, but this is not an action-driven story, it's a thought-driven one. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;">I thought that overall, The Wilderness was better (simply because I like the ending more), but this book is a good second novel. I can't wait to see what else is up Harvey's sleeves. </span><br />
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Title:<b> </b></span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7875788-the-still-point" target="_blank">The Still Point</a></b></span></div>
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Author: <b>Amy Sackville</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">I probably mixed up Harvey with <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/dec/07/amy-sackville-accidental-novelist" target="_blank"><b>Sackville</b> </a>because they were both first-time novelists. But my review is a bit different for this one ... </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Read this book. Yes, read it! <b>The Still Point </b>is an inter-generational story about an arctic explorer who disappears on an exploration and leaves his young wife behind, and a modern-day tale about a slowly-disintegrating marriage. This is not a synopsis that would usually interest me, but it's so achingly and beautifully told that you definitely must read it if you like literary fiction. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">I read it one summer for a book club (I think), and in the heat of the summer, I felt the freezing cold depths of winter as described by Amy Sackville when she writes about the explorer stuck in the icy Arctic with no resources and almost no hope. That, I think, is a major sign that the book is amazing, as it gave me feelings and thoughts that I otherwise would not be able to have. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">The modern-day story is also equally well-written. You can feel the winter of the two character's marriage too, and the two stories meld together intelligently. Read it to understand what I'm trying to say! </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">PS: both the books have beautiful covers, don't you agree?
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">PPS: Blogger's really annoying. I don't understand how 'normal' Arial can sometimes be one font size, and sometimes another. I've tried my best to stick to one font size for all posts, but it seems like it's not always up to me to decide font size! Sorry. </span><br />
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</div>Janhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14432173613077636089noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1776998968822949956.post-9233059440972646882012-08-09T21:45:00.005+00:002012-08-09T21:45:56.385+00:00The Trout & The Red Lion (sister pubs)<span style="font-family: arial;">Where to eat at a patio: <a href="http://www.blogger.com/goog_902658815"><b>The Trout</b></a><a href="http://www.thetroutoxford.co.uk/" target="_blank"> </a> <br />
Location: </span><b><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Oxford, OX2 8PN</span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I'm going to start with The Trout first, because it has to be the <i>best</i> patio experience I've had (that I can recall) in the UK. Ok, so it rains half the time over here, which isn't conducive to positive outdoor dining experiences, but we lucked out. We originally wanted to drive out to another <a href="http://www.horseandgroom.info/" target="_blank">award-winning pub</a> in the 'heart' of the Cotswolds, but firstly, it was a bit far, and also, their lunch menu wasn't exciting our tastebuds. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I then remembered The Trout. We've already accidentally been to <b><a href="http://waystoread.blogspot.com/2012/03/diana-athill-perch.html" target="_blank">The Perch</a></b>, which is another pub by Port Meadows (see <a href="http://waystoread.blogspot.com/2012/03/diana-athill-perch.html" target="_blank">my review here</a>), and the ambience was lovely on a hot spring afternoon. The Trout, in comparison, stood out even more so. The quaint little pub (well, it's not so little when you saunter in, but it seems a bit small from the outside) sits right next to the river, with a beautiful bridge, plenty of outdoor seats, and a mini waterfall. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>The Trout </b>is absolutely beautiful to visit. We originally had a last minute reservation inside the pub, which is nice and cozy enough, but seeing that the sun was out, we decided to risk sitting outside. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Now that I've raved enough about the atmosphere, let's talk about the food. In one word, I'd sum it up by saying: stunning! They're known for their seafood, and I had the most delectable <b>pan-fried scallops</b> of the day as appetizer (with a beautiful roast tomato tapenade & balsamic vinegar), followed by a very very delightful main of <b>linguini with prawns</b>, chorizo, sweet chilli, crab. I frequently order this dish because my friend doesn't like seafood, so I don't get to cook it much, and this is one of the best renditions of the chorizo/prawns/linguini combo I've had ever! (I am in fact going to compare it to The Trout's sister pub version of the same dish later...) </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">My friend had a perfectly cooked <b>chargrilled asparagus </b>with poached egg (I wasn't allowed to share so you'll have to trust him), and a really lovely spaghetti carbonara. It was extremely rich and creamy, but it wasn't too much so that you can't finish the meal and feel good. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">We ended the meal by sharing a white chocolate <b>creme brulee</b> - perfect! The meal was a bit pricy, about 50 quids including alcohol, but we stayed there for a good two and a half hours or more, and wandered around the Wolvercote area a bit (very picturesque!) so it was worth it. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Highly recommended, especially if the weather is sunny, or else, it would probably make for a lovely cozy pub to go to in the deepest of winters. </span><br />
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Where to grab a bite: <a href="http://www.redlionoxford.co.uk/" target="_blank"><b>The Red Lion</b></a><a href="http://the-perch.co.uk/" target="_blank"><b><br /></b></a></div>
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Location: <b>Central Oxford</b></div>
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<a href="http://www.redlionoxford.co.uk/static/uploads/gallery/2011/02/28/NSP-0032_800x600.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://www.redlionoxford.co.uk/static/uploads/gallery/2011/02/28/NSP-0032_800x600.jpg" width="320" /></a>Unfortunately, <b>The Red Lion </b>pales <span id="goog_902658823"></span><span id="goog_902658824"></span>in comparison to <b>The Trout</b>. I generally enjoy The Red Lion, having been there a few times for drinks, and for an odd meal here and there. The pub is nicely decorated, very nicely lit and with interesting wall decors. The food is quite good, but very shortly after eating at The Trout, I then discovered that they are actually sister pubs, and <i>then</i> eating there ... well, it made it too easy to compare the two. </div>
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I didn't consciously order the same dish, but it turns out I really do like ordering <b>tiger prawns linguini </b>with a bit of spice to it. At The Red Lion, it was decent, but I really <i>loved</i> the Trout's, so this one wasn't as good. It wasn't as sweet, didn't have as good an aftertaste ... </div>
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Everyone else liked their dishes though. One bad thing was the service - we had a really talkative waiter who forgot some of our orders. That's fine, but one of us had to leave quite early and we didn't exactly want to dawdle. </div>
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The redeemable factor here was their desserts. In fact, just the dessert I ordered. Their <b>chocolate brownie </b>was divine. I really mean this (and this means a lot, given that I have quite a sweet tooth). It was rich and melts in your mouth, drizzled with a lovely dark chocolate sauce and vanilla bean ice cream. Perfect. </div>
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So I'd still go to the <b>Red Lion</b>, especially as it's smack in the centre of town so it's easy to get to ... but if you can make a bit of an effort, do go to The Trout instead! </div>Janhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14432173613077636089noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1776998968822949956.post-20591581896719593802012-07-18T21:44:00.002+00:002012-08-10T14:44:33.923+00:00I Love Metric!<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Event:<b> <a href="http://ilovemetric.com/" target="_blank">Metric Concert & New Album Synthetica </a></b><b><a href="http://www.booktrust.org.uk/bookgifting/bookstart/bookstart20/" target="_blank"></a></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Location: <b>2012</b> <b>Tour around the World </b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://ilovemetric.com/admin/resources/metric_synthetica_09-w1024h1024.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="146" src="http://ilovemetric.com/admin/resources/metric_synthetica_09-w1024h1024.jpg" width="200" /></a></span><span style="font-size: small;">I can't get enough of Metric. For over ten years, I've been in love with all the bands that had some relation to <a href="http://www.brokensocialscene.ca/" target="_blank"><b>Broken Social Scene</b></a>: this included the famous <a href="http://www.listentofeist.com/" target="_blank"><b>Feist</b></a>, <b>Stars</b> and the awesome band that I'm now going to rave about, <b>Metric</b>. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">While Feist is more folksy and Stars is more pop-like, <b>Metric</b> is full rock-n'-roll. They really put on a good live show, and there's not a moment where it's boring or uninteresting, even if they turn acoustic. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">If you've never heard of them, check out <b>Black Sheep</b>, the theme song from the indie film <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0446029/" target="_blank"><b>Scott Pilgrim</b></a>, which is definitely rocked out. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Yes, so there might be a reason why I'm biased towards all the bolded bands & films above, as they are all <b>CANADIAN</b>! Haha. However, I don't know anyone who has ever listened to Metric and not liked them. So there you go.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">They were playing quite a lot of shows across the UK last month, and I caught their last show. They looked a bit worn out (the very sexy lead singer Emily Haines, who usually chats with the crowd comfortably, was rather silent as she just focussed on singing her heart out), but the energy was still very high, and everyone was singing along to their old anthems <b>Help I'm Alive</b>, <b>Stadium Love</b>, and <b>Monster Hospital</b>. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">They sang quite a lot from their new album too <b>(Synthetica)</b> and the good thing was that they released their whole album online way ahead of the tour, so lots of us were able to hum or at least bob along to the music. Their CD is really whacky - all the lyrics are printed backwards, and the case includes a mirrored sheet so that you can then 'read' the lyrics from the reflective sheet. Crazy! </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">If you want to hear more, listen to my Top 3 Metric songs: <b>Empty</b> (below), <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0446029/" target="_blank"><b>Poster of a Girl</b></a> and <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jq3-wZs64n4" target="_blank"><b>Gimme Sympathy</b></a>. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>Janhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14432173613077636089noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1776998968822949956.post-29608123885019979892012-07-18T19:32:00.002+00:002012-07-18T19:32:31.428+00:00Woody Allen: A Documentary<span style="font-family: arial;">Title: <b><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2397619/" target="_blank">Woody Allen: A Documentary</a></b> </span><br />
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<i><span class="huge">'I don't want to achieve immortality through my work. I want to achieve it through not dying.'</span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial;">The title gives it all away - <b>Woody Allen: A Documentary</b> is a film that's focussed entirely on Woody Allen. It naturally starts off from when he was young, and then leads into how he made it into the comedy scene, how he became a regular figure on tv talk shows, and ultimately, how he ended up on the big screen. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: arial;">I love Woody, especially his classics Manhattan, Annie Hall ... and yes, though the most recent Woody film I've seen was a tad cheesy (<a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1605783/" target="_blank"><b>Midnight In Paris</b></a>), it was still very, very enjoyable and definitely worth two hours of your life. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: arial;">Ok, so he has had a few big flops, but you've got to admire his career that has lasted over four decades; his jokes are still just as self-deprecating and relevant as it was in the 60s. Woody is a famously solipsistic man, and in this film you can see him constantly battling with the meaning of life in a very philosophical, psychoanalytical, and occasionally theological way. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: arial;">Everyone knows he is not without <b><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soon-Yi_Previn#Soon-Yi_Previn" target="_blank">controversies</a></b> and the film touches on that aspect lightly. Though the film pays tribute to Woody's inspirations (including one of my favourite directors, Fellini), it seems a bit of an oversight to not deal with Groucho Marx's influence over Woody. Overall, it's not a very critical film, more a movie directed by a big Woody fan. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: arial;">Ah well, still, if you're the least bit interested in Woody's films and how they came about, then it's interesting to watch this documentary. </span><br />
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<i><span class="huge">'My one regret in life is that I am not someone else.'</span></i></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: arial;"></span>Janhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14432173613077636089noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1776998968822949956.post-64303408422331944212012-06-11T23:14:00.001+00:002012-08-10T14:47:45.631+00:00Fitzbillies (café) & Café de Flore (film)<span style="font-family: arial;">Where to Snack: <a href="http://www.fitzbillies.com/" target="_blank"><b>Fitzbillies</b></a> <br />
Location: </span><b><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Cambridge, CB2 1RG</span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span></span><span style="font-family: arial;">We were in Cambridge for a wedding, but before we left the next day, we made sure to try out Fitzbillies. There's been quite <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2011/nov/11/fitzbillies-tim-hayward-cambridge" target="_blank"><b>a lot of hype</b> </a>around it since it re-opened, so we wanted to see if it lived up to expectations. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: arial;">The first thing I found out when we got there was that 'no one' had ever gone into Fitzbillies before it shut down. Everyone in Cambridge knew it existed for a very long time, and had heard about its signature <b>Chelsea buns</b>, but no one (at least, not the student population) ever passed through its front doors. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: arial;">Well, the clientele now is packed full with young people and young families! So they have turned it around. The decor is clean, simple yet friendly, and their <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chelsea_bun" target="_blank"><b>Chelsea buns </b></a>are lovely. I have never had one before: I'd say it tastes like a Cinnabon, except with less cinnamon and sugar. It was still quite sweet though, so I'd recommend sharing a bun with someone. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: arial;">Their <b>hot chocolate</b>, by the way, is creamy and very good quality. As for their lunch menu, I really liked my 'lunch salad', which consisted of nice green salad with rabbit and beetroot and other sorts of yummy things (yummy means I can't remember what the ingredients were), but the other friends all thought their food was overpriced. At £7.10, I thought my salad was quite perfect. I also have never had rabbit before, so it was a nice little adventure trying out the meat. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: arial;">Lastly, just before we left, we also took away some <b>ice cream</b>, and boy was it good. It's not as amazing as some of the gelati I've had in my lifetime, but it's very creamy and rich, and our chocolate and raspberry & cream scoops complemented each other perfectly. We even took it down to the river and sat under the sun to watch the punters go by. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: arial;">I would definitely recommend going for tea at <b>Fitzbillies</b>, but perhaps skip the lunch fare if you think it's not affordable. Everything tasted good though. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: arial;">Title: <b><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1550312/" target="_blank">Café de Flore</a></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial;">Where to watch: <b>Selected Theatres in UK</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: arial;">Café de Flore is a very enigmatic film. I went to see it because the same director directed one of my favourite Canadian films of all time: <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0401085/" target="_blank"><b>C.R.A.Z.Y.</b></a> That film is utterly mind-blowing for all sorts of reasons (the psychedelic use of music with Pink Floyd & Rolling Stones - great soundtrack!, beautiful & creative shots, surreal slow-mo scenes, great acting...) </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: arial;">Anyway, I was hoping to get another film like that with this, but nope. Read a <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2012/may/13/cafe-de-flore-review" target="_blank"><b>review here</b></a>. The film has two storylines slowly converging into one, but the final conclusion was not really satisfactory. It felt more like a 'whaaaa?' than an 'ohhhhh!' (if you get what I mean). </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: arial;">A lot of Jean-Marc Valle</span><span style="font-family: arial;">é's signature tropes were present: music of various genres were highlighted, good slow-mo sections, underwater shots, and beautiful young actors. His <i>auteuristic </i>style worked more or less, but occasionally I'd think that he's doing the same old trick because people loved it in C.R.A.Z.Y. For example, <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLOth-BuCNY" target="_blank"><b>Pink Floyd</b></a> again?! Can he not pick another band, or even another song, to feature? </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: arial;">One interesting fact: you'd think that the film title refers to the caf</span><span style="font-family: arial;">é made famous by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caf%C3%A9_de_Flore" target="_blank"><b>Sartre, de Beauvoir </b></a>and the likes, but actually it refers to a <b><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6z3nEYCAJ4&feature=BFa&list=PLD224F8892EABF252" target="_blank">song</a></b>. Oh another tidbit: this director made <b><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0962736/" target="_blank">Young Victoria</a></b>! I haven't watched that yet but it had some good reviews. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: arial;">There's some moving acting in Caf</span><span style="font-family: arial;">é</span><span style="font-family: arial;"> de Flore - <b>Vanessa Paradis </b>is in the cast - but overall, I wouldn't suggest anyone see it. Please go see C.R.A.Z.Y. instead! </span>Janhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14432173613077636089noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1776998968822949956.post-3554092075976786312012-06-05T19:32:00.001+00:002012-06-05T19:32:27.817+00:00Fifty Shades of Grey (Trilogy)<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
Title: <a href="http://www.eljamesauthor.com/books/fifty-shades-of-grey" target="_blank"><b>Fifty Shades of Grey</b></a></div>
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Author: <a href="http://www.eljamesauthor.com/about-the-author" target="_blank"><b>EL James</b></a></div>
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<a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/5e/50ShadesofGreyCoverArt.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/5e/50ShadesofGreyCoverArt.jpg" width="131" /></a>Why is the word-of-mouth hit <b>Fifty Shades Trilogy</b> (<i>Fifty Shades of Grey, Fifty Shades Darker, </i>and <i>Fifty Shades Freed</i>) so popular? Most critics give credit to the rise of e-readers and their ability to allow for discreet reading. The plotline's not great, the heroine and hero lack character development.<br />
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Fifty Shades feels more like a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fan_fiction" target="_blank"><b>fanfiction</b></a> story than an original one, and indeed, after a bit of quick research, I found out the series started life as a piece of <b><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1099212/" target="_blank">Twilight </a></b>fanfiction. You can see the resemblance to Twilight in the brooding, secretive older man who has a dark, twisted past, and a submissive young lady who gets acquainted with the 'dark' side of life and discovers her 'inner goddess' along the way...<br />
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More than three friends have recommended the book to me (most of them in publishing actually!), so there must be something compelling about the novels. I guess the dark, racy nature of the story makes for an exciting page-turner.<br />
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The critics have given it <b><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fifty_Shades_of_Grey#Reception" target="_blank">mixed</a></b> <b><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fifty_Shades_of_Grey#Sexual_content" target="_blank">reviews</a></b>. Some US states even banned the books from libraries. You should read it anyway, to see what it's all about. You can't escape from it really, they're about to turn it into a <b><a href="http://www.deadline.com/2012/03/universal-pictures-and-focus-features-win-50-shades-of-grey/" target="_blank">Hollywood film</a></b>! <br />
<br /></div>Janhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14432173613077636089noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1776998968822949956.post-73727086567538127452012-04-17T20:45:00.002+00:002012-08-10T14:45:01.627+00:00Bookstart: Share 20 books in 2012 & Kurt Vonnegut<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Event: <b><a href="http://www.booktrust.org.uk/bookgifting/bookstart/bookstart20/" target="_blank">Booktrust's 20th birthday celebration of Bookstart </a></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Location: <b>Anywhere you're near a book! </b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Joining well-known faces such as <i>Gruffalo </i>author (and Children's Laureate) <b>Julia Donaldson </b>and <i>War Horse </i>author <b>Michael Morpurgo</b>, I've recently made a pledge (and a silly balloon on my <a href="https://twitter.com/#%21/janicereads" target="_blank"><b>Twitter profile</b></a>) to a great cause: to share 20 books in 2012.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">This is part of a <b>Bookstart </b>campaign to get everyone to share books with their families and friends. Bookstart itself is aimed at helping children start reading, but hey, you can share books not just with children. This is what they recommend: </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>How can you share 20 books?</b></span></div>
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<li><span style="font-size: small;">reading picture books with your own children or other members of your family at bedtime or at anytime!</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;">reading to a group of children in a school or a library</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;">joining a reading group</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;">recommending books to your friends</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;">posting a book review on a website.</span></li>
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<span style="font-size: small;">I'm probably just going to do the latter two. In previous entries, I've already shared with you the wonders of </span><span style="font-size: small;"><b><a href="http://waystoread.blogspot.com/2012/03/mad-men-5-and-hunger-games.html" target="_blank">The Hunger Games</a></b>, </span><span style="font-size: small;"> <b><a href="http://waystoread.blogspot.com/2012/03/hitchhikers-guide-to-galaxy.html" target="_blank">Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy</a></b>, <b><a href="http://waystoread.blogspot.com/2012/03/design-and-literature.html" target="_blank">Art Spiegelman's Maus</a></b>, <a href="http://waystoread.blogspot.com/2012/03/diana-athill-perch.html" target="_blank"><b>Diana Athill's STET</b></a>, <b><a href="http://waystoread.blogspot.com/2012/04/ts-eliot-ian-mcewan.html" target="_blank">TS Eliot's Four Quartet</a></b> & <a href="http://waystoread.blogspot.com/2012/04/ts-eliot-ian-mcewan.html" target="_blank"><b>Ian McEwan's On Chesil Beach</b></a>... so it's really easy to continue onwards writing reviews about another dozen or so books for the rest of this year. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">So for Book #7, I will talk about <b>Slaughterhouse Five</b>! </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Title: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slaughterhouse-Five" target="_blank"><b>Slaughterhouse Five</b></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Author: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurt_Vonnegut" target="_blank"><b>Kurt Vonnegut</b></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://bookatlas.files.wordpress.com/2010/08/slaughterhouse-5.jpg?w=185&h=300" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://bookatlas.files.wordpress.com/2010/08/slaughterhouse-5.jpg?w=185&h=300" width="130" /></a>First of all, it is embarrassing to admit that I only read <b>Slaughterhouse Five </b>recently (over Easter holidays). Secondly, I have always thought that Slaughterhouse Five is about <b><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Famous_Five_%28series%29" target="_blank">a group of children solving mysteries</a></b>. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Yes, I mixed it up with <b>The Famous Five</b>, haha! </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">So naturally, I didn't really like it when I started reading, as it defied my expectation: why did the narrative launch immediately into a discussion about the representation of <b>World War 2 </b>(and in particular, the Dresden episode)? Where are the kids? Where's the mystery? </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">I started to like it by the end of chapter 1. It's very metafictional, with the author going on about how he's going to write about his war experiences authentically and correctly. He's very self-deprecating: </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">I've finished my war book now. The next one I wrote is going to be fun. This one is a failure, and had to be, since it was written by a pillar of salt. It begins like this: <i>Listen: Billy Pilgrim has come unstuck in time. It ends like this: [...]</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">He does indeed give away the last sentence of his book, right in the first chapter. Very Joycean; very biblical. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Anyway, so the 2nd chapter brings us into this fictional account of Billy Pilgrim. That story itself is hard to appreciate, I think because the main character Billy is so difficult to like: he's quite pathetic, bad things happen to him but he doesn't try to change his situation much. He is a <b><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cassandra" target="_blank">Cassandra-like</a></b> creature, but the things he can foretell sound ridiculous. I really didn't like Billy Pilgrim, but the metafictional aspects of the story are awesome, where the I or me appears in the narrative as the 'author'. That is quite fun and unexpected. And I'm a huge sucker for metafiction. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Another quirky bit in the book is that whenever someone dies, or if someone talks about death (and this happens quite often!), the line 'So it goes' follows right after. This technique doesn't get old, and it's quite a funny yet resigned way of dealing with death. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Overall, the book is worth a read. It is actually ranked the 18th greatest English novel of the 20th century by <b><a href="http://www.modernlibrary.com/top-100/100-best-novels/" target="_blank">Modern Library</a></b>. In any case, if you must read only one satire on the world war, you should skip this one and pick up <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catch_22" target="_blank"><b>Joseph Heller's Catch-22</b></a>. Catch-22 is quite lengthy, but it's absolutely a laugh-out-loud kind of novel. </span></div>Janhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14432173613077636089noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1776998968822949956.post-26932137591315281182012-04-08T20:18:00.001+00:002012-04-08T20:20:57.044+00:00TS Eliot & Ian McEwan<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Title: <b><a href="http://www.faber.co.uk/work/four-quartets/9780571249596/" target="_blank">The Four Quartet by TS Eliot</a></b></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Location: <a href="http://people.bath.ac.uk/lismd/churches/east-coker.html" target="_blank"><b>St Michael's Church in East Coker</b> </a></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.faber.co.uk/site-media/onix-images/thumbs/10805_jpg_280x450_q85.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://www.faber.co.uk/site-media/onix-images/thumbs/10805_jpg_280x450_q85.jpg" width="131" /></a>This has been a surprisingly literary weekend. We didn't set out to do anything other than have a relaxing Easter break, perhaps drive around the countryside and to the coast. We stayed in Yeovil, which isn't a spectacular town, but ended up having a nice cup of chai tea and a scrumptious raspberry & chocolate tart at the <b>Pear Tree </b>in the nearby town Sherbone. Someone wrote a review of <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/europe/uk/736236/My-kind-of-town.html" target="_blank">what to do in Sherbone</a> and recommended the Pear Tree (and also managed to slag off Yeovil, but I don't blame him). </div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">On the same day, we drove to <b><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Coker_%28poem%29" target="_blank">East Coker</a></b>, which turned out to be part of TS Eliot's famous poem the Four Quartets. I absolutely love <b><a href="http://allspirit.co.uk/norton.html" target="_blank">Burnt Norton</a></b>, the first part of the Four Quartets, so I'm embarrassed to say I didn't recognise the significance of East Coker until I saw his plaque inside the church. My favourite lines from Four Quartets: </div><blockquote class="tr_bq"><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-2"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Coker_%28poem%29#cite_note-2"></a></sup> What might have been and what has been<br />
Point to one end, which is always present.<br />
Footfalls echo in the memory<br />
Down the passage which we did not take<br />
Towards the door we never opened<br />
Into the rose-garden. My words echo<br />
Thus, in your mind.</div></blockquote><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://resources3.news.com.au/images/2011/03/11/1226019/581591-east-coker-church-from-ne.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://resources3.news.com.au/images/2011/03/11/1226019/581591-east-coker-church-from-ne.jpg" width="320" /></a>Isn't it beautiful? I fell in love with this section of the poem at the same time as reading Borges' short stories, and Borges' fiction primarily wrestled with the astounding idea that in art or literature, fiction and non-fiction (truth and lies) are given equal status. Only in literature can you follow the path you did not take, and learn what could have happened. Anyway. </div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">East Coker turns out to be Eliot's grandfather's home, and the Eliot family has ties to this village for centuries back. TS Eliot was born in the States, but he ended up becoming a British citizen. He lived in London for most of his life: when he visited East Coker though, he decided to have his ashes buried there. Quite poignant. There's a plaque dedicated to him inside the church, with part of his poem inked on it: </div><blockquote class="tr_bq"><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">In my beginning is my end. Of your kindness, pray for the soul of Thomas Stearns Eliot, poet. In my end is my beginning.</div></blockquote><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;">>><< </div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.ianmcewan.com/bib/books/images/chesil_beach_UK_300h.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://www.ianmcewan.com/bib/books/images/chesil_beach_UK_300h.jpg" width="129" /></a></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Title: <a href="http://www.ianmcewan.com/bib/books/chesil.html" target="_blank"><b>On Chesil Beach</b> </a>by <b>Ian McEwan</b></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Location: <a href="http://www.chesilbeach.org/" target="_blank"><b>Chesil Beach in Dorset</b> </a></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">After a lazy lunch today, we took off towards Bridport and Beaminster. We were told the two towns are quite picturesque, and decided to drive down to the coast. Bridport is small, quiet (especially on Easter Sunday), but it has a lovely cultural scene going on there: signs with the latest Bridport Film Festival, lots of used bookstores, cute pubs with book club evenings... We spent a nice afternoon chilling out at<a href="http://beachandbarnicott.co.uk/index.html" target="_blank"> <b>Beach & Barnicott</b></a>, a lovely Grade II listed bar & restaurant. It is very comfortable, except that the ceiling started leaking while we were drinking Green & Blacks hot chocolate and devouring a moist carrot cake. Turns out the kitchen employees were draining their sinks, and yes, the water goes down through the ceiling and onto us (well, almost). Anyway, other than that incident, the pub was very relaxing and we had a nice time compiling a strange list of things we are good at (<b><a href="http://joannagoddard.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/what-are-you-good-at.html" target="_blank">inspired by this book</a></b>).</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.southampton.ac.uk/%7Eimw/jpg-Budleigh-Salterton/5BS-cliff-beach.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="256" src="http://www.southampton.ac.uk/%7Eimw/jpg-Budleigh-Salterton/5BS-cliff-beach.jpg" width="320" /></a>We then drove a few minutes more to <b>West Bay </b>and walked along the beach, which turns out to be next door to <b>Chesil Beach</b>! Chesil Beach, made famous by <b>Ian McEwan's novella</b>. I am the biggest fan of McEwan (at least, almost everything after <b><a href="http://www.ianmcewan.com/bib/books/index.html" target="_blank">The Child In Time</a></b>), so it was really fortunate to accidentally find the setting of one of his stories. It was a bit chilly, but the walk by the beach and the Jurassic cliffs nearby are really astounding and dramatic - you can kind of picture dinosaurs seeing the same cliffs when they once roamed the earth. </div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Anyway, I hope you all had a lovely long (and literary) weekend as well! </div>Janhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14432173613077636089noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1776998968822949956.post-5947734861598094192012-03-28T19:04:00.002+00:002012-03-28T19:06:00.992+00:00Diana Athill & The Perch<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Coming soon: <b><a href="http://www.oxfordplayhouse.com/ticketsoxford/?event=16497" target="_blank">Diana Athill talks about a life fully lived</a></b></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Location: <b>Christ Church, Oxford</b></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.biblioimages.com/granta/getimage.aspx?cat=default&class=person&id=184&quality=100&type=jpg&width=230&height=0&size=custom&resize=1" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.biblioimages.com/granta/getimage.aspx?cat=default&class=person&id=184&quality=100&type=jpg&width=230&height=0&size=custom&resize=1" /></a><b>Diana Athill</b>'s appearance at the <b><a href="http://www.oxfordplayhouse.com/ticketsoxford/?event=16497" target="_blank">Oxford Literary Festival</a></b> is sold out! I'm really upset because I noted this event down, but didn't get around to buying tickets until it's too late. Her memoir <b><a href="http://grantabooks.com/page/3032/Stet/2005" target="_blank">STET</a></b> is absolutely amazing, a behind-the-scenes look at what being an editor is all about (at least, before the digital age arrived). Not a lot of editors are 'famous' outside of the publishing industry, but if you are at all into literature, you probably would have heard of Athill's name. </div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">It might be one of her last appearances too ... oh well! There are loads going on at the Literary Festival. I believe <a href="http://www.philip-pullman.com/" target="_blank"><b>Philip Pullman</b> </a>and <b><a href="http://www.kevincrossley-holland.com/" target="_blank">Kevin Crossley-Holland</a></b> are also doing events (and yes, I do love children's lit!). </div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
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Where to drink: <a href="http://the-perch.co.uk/" target="_blank"><b>The Perch</b></a></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Location: <b>Binsey Lane, Oxford</b></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">And while I'm on an Oxford theme: last weekend we discovered Port Meadows and <a href="http://the-perch.co.uk/" target="_blank"><b>The Perch</b></a>, a wonderful countryside pub. Their food is quite pricy as they see themselves as a <b><a href="http://the-perch.co.uk/ThePerchHistory.pdf" target="_blank">historic pub</a> </b>and 'French restaurant serving innovative and high quality food'. So instead, we had a small picnic by the meadows before wandering in to the beer garden. </div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhh575GkaGnlLlJ-BLD4otNfWKD-xkz0TII23MNS1vSFOW9SOuNgs99N5UFLQdy1xinx7U6QRyXXsPWokPJ4b9HbjQu_e0bi265a3sJr0yjXI4oXHpHcSZ2t9riSqn7L82z42dScwR3bkM/s1600/P1210940.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhh575GkaGnlLlJ-BLD4otNfWKD-xkz0TII23MNS1vSFOW9SOuNgs99N5UFLQdy1xinx7U6QRyXXsPWokPJ4b9HbjQu_e0bi265a3sJr0yjXI4oXHpHcSZ2t9riSqn7L82z42dScwR3bkM/s320/P1210940.JPG" width="320" /></a>The pub itself is quaint yet sophisticated. Their beer selection is alright, we weren't in love with what we chose, but the atmosphere in the garden is lovely: the customers are a mixture of mainly young academic families with strollers, students, and then some suited figures. I never knew that <b><a href="http://the-perch.co.uk/ThePerchHistory.pdf" target="_blank">Alice in Wonderland</a></b> has links around this area of Oxford. </div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Port Meadows</b> itself is worth a visit, especially in spring. Bucolic would be the right word to describe it, though that word always reminds me of cholera (my mind's a funny thing!).</div>Janhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14432173613077636089noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1776998968822949956.post-87564751763611671952012-03-19T23:16:00.001+00:002012-08-10T14:48:52.106+00:00Mad Men (5) and Hunger Games<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
Coming soon: <b>Mad Men Season 5</b> and the film <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1392170/" target="_blank"><b>Hunger Games</b></a> </div>
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Locations: <b>on TVs and theatres near you</b></div>
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<b>Mad Men</b> and the <b>Hunger Games</b> target totally different demographics and have nothing in common, but they are both coming out near the end of the month. </div>
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While I'm super excited for the new season of Mad Men to start, I am also very intrigued by the <i>Hunger Games</i> phenomenon. I read the first of the <b>trilogy</b> in one sitting, without meaning to. It was very gripping, a total page-turner. The 2nd and 3rd parts started to wear thin though. I'm not going to give any spoilers, but suffice to say, when you have a plot based around a dystopic world with rules and morals of its own, you just <i>cannot</i> go and drop in a <b><i>deus ex machina</i></b> over and over again. If a beloved character is about to die under existing 'rules', you should not arbitrarily change the rules so that the character survives! It's called bad plot design, and I really hate that. </div>
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<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4S9a5V9ODuY" target="_blank"><b>The trailer for the first film</b> </a>looks good though, so I might give it a try. If you're crazy enough, you can also try the <b><a href="http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2012/03/theres-a-hunger-games-workout-at-a-local-gym.html" target="_blank">Hunger Games Workout</a></b> at your local gym.</div>
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<b>Mad Men</b>, on the other hand, has amazing plot lines. Every episode is superbly crafted from first line to last. I love it insanely, including the costumes, the lighting, the moods, the shots. Beautiful. I wonder what will happen now that Don has proposed! And I also wonder if the writers/directors were ever inspired by <b><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118694/" target="_blank">In the Mood for Love</a></b>. My favourite film of all time, ITMFL is also set in the 60s, and is a film full of longing silences, looks, and similar camera angles and shots. </div>
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There's a <b><a href="http://www.secretsareback.com/" target="_blank">countdown</a></b> on the official Mad Men website, a <a href="http://www.amctv.com/shows/mad-men/season-4-fashion-gallery" target="_blank">fashion gallery</a>, and even a '<a href="http://www.amctv.com/shows/mad-men/job-interview" target="_blank">Mad Men job interview</a>' game, where you can find out if you have what it takes to get hired! How timely, in this economic climate. </div>Janhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14432173613077636089noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1776998968822949956.post-29610067727686673732012-03-16T17:19:00.000+00:002012-03-16T17:19:58.613+00:00Design and Literature<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Topics: <b>Graphic Novels, Illustrations, Literature </b></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">It is fascinating to discover how different disciplines intersect, how they can inform each other, and how that can spawn new disciplines. Architecture (where art + function/engineering meet) is a good example; <b>graphic novels </b>(art + literature) is another one.</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIVlO7RPfDu6yGEF-vcD_9_ddBVZ80Up1eF5vDeZr-ql2H6jDLPAboRuEgnbDrLrtCFZ1spQ6agRaBYhqIFca7zNsxR8tV2LQdY1k4-fY5_0CVHAKHEtclSF58XJmSZBhZQuNYleoXXXY/s400/Gallery-Oliver-Jeffers-Ho-001.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="163" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIVlO7RPfDu6yGEF-vcD_9_ddBVZ80Up1eF5vDeZr-ql2H6jDLPAboRuEgnbDrLrtCFZ1spQ6agRaBYhqIFca7zNsxR8tV2LQdY1k4-fY5_0CVHAKHEtclSF58XJmSZBhZQuNYleoXXXY/s320/Gallery-Oliver-Jeffers-Ho-001.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><i>A picture book by Oliver Jeffers </i></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I loved graphic novels before it became 'cool' - I guess I've always loved picture books. It's beautiful to see how text + illustration can work together to immerse the reader into the story. </div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">You can think of it as a kind of movie, where you can watch the film at your own pace, frame by frame. I once took an undergraduate course on Graphic Novels and got the opportunity to read Spiegelman's <i>Maus</i>, <b>Craig Thompson's <i>Blankets</i></b>, and many other classics. </div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Anyway, this very <a href="http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2012/03/14/literary-art-projects/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+brainpickings%2Frss+%28Brain+Pickings%29&utm_content=Google+Reader" target="_blank">interesting post by <b>brainpickings</b></a> made me think about design + literature. Lovely illustrations of Joyce's <b><i>Finnegans Wake</i></b>, by <a href="http://wakeinprogress.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Stephen Crowe</a>. That novel is notoriously difficult to read, let alone to illustrate! </div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPC1zHJAhUDSxuv2n5vmNKYeukZl-N5XsfwdQk33hXvDxuUddP4QrI8uCXiL9iWZMER-8h22cF9hhx_s8jMbyokt0h8F1VmdHzwhHaa-TNJHgGWNfSUGSXPzYC30QyEkTZq2axjB8Xwf1a/s1600/fw75+03.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="226" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPC1zHJAhUDSxuv2n5vmNKYeukZl-N5XsfwdQk33hXvDxuUddP4QrI8uCXiL9iWZMER-8h22cF9hhx_s8jMbyokt0h8F1VmdHzwhHaa-TNJHgGWNfSUGSXPzYC30QyEkTZq2axjB8Xwf1a/s320/fw75+03.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><i> page 75 of Finnegans Wake, designed by Stephen Crowe</i></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">When commissioning an illustrator/designer to create something to go along with the text, I think it's preferable when the image doesn't just illustrate the text in a literal manner. It is way better to have a <b>complementary relationship </b>between the words and the images, so that a reader can't understand the whole story by just reading the words, or just flipping through and looking at the pictures. </div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">If you're interested in hearing a bit more about illustration and storytelling, and whether 'cartoons' can convey the magnitude and seriousness of real tragedies such as Auschwitz, I would recommend listening to this <a href="http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/radio4/openbook/openbook_20120205-1630a.mp3" target="_blank">recent BBC radio podcast</a> of <b>Art Spiegelman</b> talking about his Nobel prize-winning graphic novel <i><b>Maus</b></i>. </div>Janhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14432173613077636089noreply@blogger.com0