February 2012 - "So Rebekah, why the big horse?"
So February, and I'm apparently leaving the house a bit more often. In January this had happened, and I was out at Pizza Express in early Feb when I heard a woman at the next table compare the Costa Concordia captain to Zapp Brannigan.
Becky and I managed to get out and about and see some exhibitions, including a brilliant one about Daphne Oram and early electronic music at the Science Museum (which is STILL ON - ends on 1 December Oramics). This is Becky playing with a simulation of the Oramics machine which Daphne used to make her innovative music:
We also went along with B's parents to see the Terence Conran museum at the Design Museum. This was pretty cool - some fascinating examples of his work, including a load of old Habitat catalogues from the 70s, and some extraordinarily ahead-of-its-time design from 1950s. I loved this photo of his first set of design offices, on Hanway Street:
Enjoyed some lovely boozes with nudejournal for his birthday, along with pals internetsdairy, pageantmalarkey and gideondefoe at the Lamb, on Lamb's Conduit Street:
And work took me to Brighton - Patcham to be precise - which gave me an ideal opportunity to take a walk along the seafront on an unexpectedly sunny, but expectedly chilly, day.
The walk culminated in a lovely natter with therealjo over a couple of drinks in Hove.
After years of Not Getting My Finger Out, I finally made it, in company of B, to Brick Lane on another sunny, crisp and cold day.
B bought dresses, we stuck our noses in various esoteric vintage clothes shops, we wandered through crowds, and we bought delicious salt beef beigels from Beigel Bake, the legendary 24-hour Jewish bakery.
Via one of my oldest and best friends, Justin, (@mumbler3 on Twitter), I was introduced during this month to a fantastic new radio show, Q The 80s, on Q Radio. It's occupied that lovely Sunday evening doing-the-homework slot that used to be occupied by Annie Nightingale during my youth. The presenter, Matthew Rudd, has hit upon the simple, yet brilliant, idea of playing any single that made the top 40 between 1980 and 1989 - meaning that you get one or two of the oft-played faves, but tons more that you'd half-forgotten, or completely forgotten, and the end result is something far more evocative of the decade than the usual 80s shows and stations. It's on in about an hour - and you can see playlists from past weeks here.
Things happened - Whitney Houston died, provoking this excellent blog post from Bristol MP Kerry McCarthy. Rodney Bewes lookalike Chris Huhne finally resigned over scandal involving his driving licence. Ed Davey, his successor, repeatedly asked "Can you fill his shoes, Mr Davey? Can you fill his shoes?" I wonder if Ed has filled his shoes yet.
The new, cinema version of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy came out. Opinion on this seems pretty divided, with one or two of my friends absolutely appalled by it, but some, like webofevil waxing lyrical about it. I tend to side with him - I loved the TV adaptation, but this version was a fascinating alternative reading, with a really gloomy, slightly grubby 70s air and a button-down performance from Gary Oldman. And Julio Iglesias's version of La Mer rocks.
Blur reappeared, with a live performance of a beautiful new song:
And a month of infuriating testimony from individuals like Dacre, Kelvin Mackenzie et al culminated in the farce of the revelations that the police had loaned Rebekah Brooks a horse. And that the Prime Minister had gone for a ride on it. Whatever could it all mean?
Becky and I managed to get out and about and see some exhibitions, including a brilliant one about Daphne Oram and early electronic music at the Science Museum (which is STILL ON - ends on 1 December Oramics). This is Becky playing with a simulation of the Oramics machine which Daphne used to make her innovative music:
We also went along with B's parents to see the Terence Conran museum at the Design Museum. This was pretty cool - some fascinating examples of his work, including a load of old Habitat catalogues from the 70s, and some extraordinarily ahead-of-its-time design from 1950s. I loved this photo of his first set of design offices, on Hanway Street:
Enjoyed some lovely boozes with nudejournal for his birthday, along with pals internetsdairy, pageantmalarkey and gideondefoe at the Lamb, on Lamb's Conduit Street:
And work took me to Brighton - Patcham to be precise - which gave me an ideal opportunity to take a walk along the seafront on an unexpectedly sunny, but expectedly chilly, day.
The walk culminated in a lovely natter with therealjo over a couple of drinks in Hove.
After years of Not Getting My Finger Out, I finally made it, in company of B, to Brick Lane on another sunny, crisp and cold day.
B bought dresses, we stuck our noses in various esoteric vintage clothes shops, we wandered through crowds, and we bought delicious salt beef beigels from Beigel Bake, the legendary 24-hour Jewish bakery.
Via one of my oldest and best friends, Justin, (@mumbler3 on Twitter), I was introduced during this month to a fantastic new radio show, Q The 80s, on Q Radio. It's occupied that lovely Sunday evening doing-the-homework slot that used to be occupied by Annie Nightingale during my youth. The presenter, Matthew Rudd, has hit upon the simple, yet brilliant, idea of playing any single that made the top 40 between 1980 and 1989 - meaning that you get one or two of the oft-played faves, but tons more that you'd half-forgotten, or completely forgotten, and the end result is something far more evocative of the decade than the usual 80s shows and stations. It's on in about an hour - and you can see playlists from past weeks here.
Things happened - Whitney Houston died, provoking this excellent blog post from Bristol MP Kerry McCarthy. Rodney Bewes lookalike Chris Huhne finally resigned over scandal involving his driving licence. Ed Davey, his successor, repeatedly asked "Can you fill his shoes, Mr Davey? Can you fill his shoes?" I wonder if Ed has filled his shoes yet.
The new, cinema version of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy came out. Opinion on this seems pretty divided, with one or two of my friends absolutely appalled by it, but some, like webofevil waxing lyrical about it. I tend to side with him - I loved the TV adaptation, but this version was a fascinating alternative reading, with a really gloomy, slightly grubby 70s air and a button-down performance from Gary Oldman. And Julio Iglesias's version of La Mer rocks.
Blur reappeared, with a live performance of a beautiful new song:
Click to viewAnd a month of infuriating testimony from individuals like Dacre, Kelvin Mackenzie et al culminated in the farce of the revelations that the police had loaned Rebekah Brooks a horse. And that the Prime Minister had gone for a ride on it. Whatever could it all mean?