Back in dreary February, Londonist was keen to sing the praises of newly opened Bea’s of Bloomsbury. Recently, we went back for a birthday cake and were pleased to find Bea et al are continuing to provide Londoners with quality yumminess. In closing, we’ll leave you with three words: chocolate truffle cake.
We're giving away a pair of free tickets to the final on Saturday 20 September. Whether you're a contemporary dance fan or just curious, we can promise you a diverting, interesting and exciting night and, yes, there is a bar. Simply enter your details below and answer this easy question for a chance to win.
The Place Prize is sponsored by which company?
The competition closes at 5pm on 11 September and the winner will be notified by email.
Image of all the choreographers courtesy of The Place.
Images of Danny in Victoria used with permission from Birdologist's Flickr photostream. Read the full story on GrrlScientist's blog.
Contribute your photos of words around town to this discussion in the Londonist Flickrpool..
Taking the lead from our cousins in LA, here starts a seasonal series Style-ist. We're sending forth our Flickrpool photographers to capture street style through the seasons.
As the Kinks said "...Everywhere the Carnabetion Army marches on, each one a Dedicated Follower of Fashion." Here's late summer Carnaby Street by Natalie Ujuk.
Where is it? Er, the Barbican, surprisingly. Go up to Level 3, out the back doors, and turn right through the doors once you're in the courtyard. Can't miss it (though many have).
Why has it tickled our fancy? It's a surreal slice of bucolic splendour located atop the Brutalism of the Barbican Centre. The conservatory is wrapped around the theatre's vast flytower, built specially large at the request of then-resident Royal Shakespeare Company. Mainly used for banqueting, conferences and private functions, the conservatory is open for free to plain ol' Joe Public on Sundays and bank holidays, from 12pm to 4pm.
Nature notes: Some 2,000 species of tropical plantlife are arranged over the two levels, while cacti have a special climate-controlled room all by themselves. But we were particularly enthralled by the wildlife: terrapins bask on a rockery, while in the ponds, koi carp swim lethargically, perfectly capturing that relaxing Sunday afternoon vibe. Less impressive is the aviary, whose sad-looking birds are penned into a dismally small area.
Street artist Slinkachu released four new tiny sculptures into the city to mark the launch of his new book this week and five intrepid hunters from the Londonist team set out to find them in a specially designed treasure hunt.
In an afternoon's muggy and damp tramping around, we went from the COSH gallery where Slinkachu's work is on display into the West End, to South Bank and right the way over to Brick Lane. We still have blisters on our feet from hunting all of Sunday but we found them all, these tiny people having their own tiny dramas in the unlikeliest of places around our big town.
Here they are in full photographic glory... check out the dog taking 'special interest' in the severed finger. Someone tell us if they're still there a month from now - we certainly hope so because the joy of finding these little people was BIG.
Joan Rivers. Tonight. In an intimate London theatre. We SO had to be there.
In a rare fit of splashing out, Londonist emptied its collective wallets onto the floor, booked 'Diamond' tickets ("Best seats; Goodie bag; Get to meet Joan!") and almost sprinted to Leicester Square Theatre. There we saw the mistress of the red carpet swap it for a live stage instead. Could she put on a show of interest and worth for almost two hours (without an interval)?
Three things everyone knows about Joan Rivers - 1. she's ascerbic; 2. she's old (75); and 3. she's had more plastic surgery than Cher, and is refreshingly honest about it. All three featured hugely in tonight's show. She got a huge round of applause when she walked on (which she put down to the fact that she succeeded in walking on unaided, and as a 185-year old woman we were all impressed that she didn't fall over, wet herself or die.)
The show took the form of a play about a moment in Rivers' career, and she spent most of the time stepping out of the play to talk directly to the audience. The whole thing worked most of the time - her one-liners and great stories (such as how she got the Queen to laugh) repeatedly hit the spot, making the audience gasp and holler in amusement. Sometimes the play itself lost a bit of drive, but it didn't matter - you knew that in 3 minutes time you'd be laughing your head off. Or maybe that was just Londonist? Oops.
The real surprise for us? Probably the disarming bittersweet moments. Rivers spoke of her husband's suicide, of being cut off by her daughter, and her fall-out with talk show maestro Johnny Carson - all in direct and obviously emotional terms. Tonight we saw the viper-tongued bitchy commentator fleshed out into a disarming human being right in front of us. Like a good episode of the Golden Girls, even though you know it's all scripted, it still worked - and the poignancy somehow gave the jokes extra 'umph'.
After a 10-minute break she came out for the promised meet-and-greet. Despite being shattered, the septuagenarian was in no rush to go, and spent ages chatting to fans and having her picture taken with them. It felt exactly like those periods in her life she'd spoken about, when she had no job and so worked in strip joints and - eventually - ended up taking the supposedly dead-end, awful job of standing in the heat trying to catch the eye of celebrities. She knew the value of investing time with an audience, and working like a professional.
We shouldn't spoil the show by revealing too much, but we'll share three opening one-liners:
* "You are *such* a cunt. What's the masculine equivalent of a cunt? Oh yes - Russell Crowe"
* "Working with Barbara, she taught me that there was no "I" in team. But there certainly *was* one in Streisand"
* "I had to arse-lick so much to get the right jobs that I used to put Anusol on my lips"
Well worth going. Joan Rivers - 'A Work in Progress by a Life in Progress', is at Leicester Square Theatre from 29 August - 18 September, and from 2 December - 29 January. Tickets from £35 here.
Image from Jen_Mo's Flickrstream
The Snowboarding World Cup travels the globe with a range of different events and kicks off this week in New Zealand. The 'big air' will then come to London on 25 October with international championship contenders, including Brit Dan Wakeham, launch themselves off a massive ramp to perform airborne spins and tricks aloft a real snow slope amid plenty of talk of Vancouver 2010.
The big air will be the impressive centrepiece of a new winter sports festival (although, is October really winter?) at the Power Station - Free Sports On 4 Freeze - (yeah, Channel 4's in there somewhere) with live music, a fake Alpine village and all sorts of other jazz to draw you to SW8. And if that wasn't snowy excitement enough for you, the Bahamas will be making their debut as competitors in this world cup season so watch out for Cool Runnings spin off commentary.
Image courtesy of prosto photos under the Creative Commons Attribution license.
Huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuubba hubba! The Gore Hotel’s at it again with another Burlesque Soirée, this time to celebrate London Fashion Week “with a decadent show by London’s hottest Burlesque act, Miss Polly Rae and the Hurly Burly Girlys.”
Londonist was at the Gore’s last Burlesque Soirée. We sincerely hope to make it to this one and reckon this time round will be just as va-va-voom (yet exceptionally stylish) as the last.
London Fashion Week Burlesque Soiree with Miss Polly Rae and the Hurly Burly Girlys is Friday 19 September 2008, 8pm–1am at the Gore Hotel (190 Queen’s Gate, Kensington SW7). Entry is £10 at the door and includes one complimentary Burlesque cocktail. There’s also a £39 supper club option (which Londonist tried last time and loved). For more details visit the Gore Hotel online at www.gorehotel.com.
Photography by Chris Osburn