Returning from the splendour of Budapest to the grey of London was a bit of a letdown but we soon got past that as we had tickets to the longest running play in the world, Agatha Christie's The Mousetrap at St. Martin's Theatre, which we were obviously excited about.
Pictures are just banned everywhere these days but we did manage this
Prior to that I collected some bookporn for fans of old books:
One of the most historically fascinating yet visually unimpressive sights on our trip around Europe has to be The London Stone. Leah discovered it when reading the Peter Ackroyd biography of London and the history surrounding it was enough to make us take a trip to the wall of a WHSmith newsagents. Here's your history lesson: Thought to have originally been much larger it is thought to be of Druidic or Roman origin it is located very close to the centre of the east-west diameter of the City of London, as defined by the Roman walls. Legends and myths surround it, most fun of which might be that it is linked to the safety of London (and therefore the never say die spirit of its inhabitants?) "So long as the Stone of Brutus is safe, so long shall London flourish". This relates to the myth that the stone was part of an altar built by Brutus of Troy.
And here's part of the traditional London Wall built by the Romans around Londinium and maintained in to the 18th Century:
Relatively nearby we paid a visit to Whitehaven Mansions, the home of the famous Belgian detective, Hercule Poirot. The wonderful Art Deco building used in the David Suchet TV series is somehow less impressive in reality, possibly something to do with the swathe of flashy cars parked in the pay and display car park outside. Located at Florin Court, Charterhouse Square it still overshadows every other building on the square.
Friday and Saturday were much better thank you very much. A large portion of the responsibility for this upturn in mood must be placed at the very sore feet of our friend Kat AKA Sparklyfiend who arrived like a Tasmanian Devil in a whirlwind of vulgarity and hilariousness to cheer us up no end, not to mention the ability to receive an instant bank transfer and pass the cold hard cash on to us.
This is Kat, she tells us she's regularly cunted on jelly
After a morning of general relaxation and book shopping we spent the better part of the day indulging in alcohol therapy before heading to Camden for the much anticipated Pierce The Veil gig (my review of Collide With The Sky.) At Camden tube station there was a very heavy police presence with many dogs sniffing at passengers legs and multiple vans outside. The vans contained many more dogs from the sound of it. There was nothing subtle about it, nothing surreptitious and yet still we witnessed half a dozen idiots try to get past the cops and the dogs whilst carrying drugs in the pockets in the matter of minutes it took Kat to buy her train ticket. If I had been allowed to take a photo I would be showing you a shot of the station ticket hall half full of men waiting to be taken in to a back room for what might have ended up as cavity searches for all we knew. Listen up kids, if you're too stupid and lazy to change your travel plans when faced with police cavity searches then it might be best to give up on that drug dealing career you're embarking on.
But on to the show, the Underworld in Camden is a strange little venue that I had actually once been involved in organising some shitty concert for an internet TV company at. I didn't remember this fact until I'd walked us a mile in the wrong direction from the pub we were drinking at. Yes well played Toby. The stage is in a pit with a small dancefloor whilst the rest of the venue is up some steps, in theory to allow people to see I'd guess but that never happens. Bizarrely the stage does not actually face the majority of the crowd, it is rotated at 45 degrees to face a corner instead. That aside there's low ceilings and dark walls and it allows for a really good sound in the right circumstances. Pierce The Veil rocked hard, after two albums packed with incredible songs they had a lot to choose from and put on a show that didn't suffer from attempts to play tracks that they had written on tour, album filler or the obligitory slow song, it was all balls to the wall, hispanic influences post-hardcore singalongs from start to finish. That I had a voice at the end of the show after attempting high notes and growling throughout was a miracle. Negatives on the night mainly feature all of the young girls that somehow had tickets to the show and seemingly had never been to a gig before as they all seemed to just run around for an hour, in to the "moshpit" for twenty seconds until they couldn't take it anymore, back to their boyfriends/parents, off to the bar, time for an excited wee, lets mosh some more, oh wow this song is so good I need to tell my other friends about it. Maybe we're all getting old but seriously WTF. This did not make for a good crowd, with their numbers in constant flux they seemed unable even to clap on demand. Small things really and it was over way too soon. I looked amazing in my new Breakfast Club sweater as you'll see and I have provided you with the obligitory shit and pointless photo of a band on stage.
Yes that is a Breakfast Club sweater and yes, Kat dresses like this everyday
Saturday followed very quickly on the heels of Friday, getting in to bed at 1am we required a 6am wakeup call to head out on our first day trip. Brighton is famous for being the gay capital of England, a hive of student activity and as such has an alternative vibe to the city (in the case of England meaning at least a quarter of the shops are not massive chain stores) plus it was traditionally a great summer holiday spot for the Brits in times when global travel was prohibitively costly.
Kat demanded breakfast/coffee on the beach, something I was incredibly hesitant to do. The beach in Brighton is all rocks, there's no sand at all, and walking through Brighton from the train station it was bloody freezing, to use a local term. But with coffee in hand we braved the elements only to find it was the opposite of going to the beach in Perth, the wind dropped off and we just sat in the sun waking up to the day. Great call Kat, you justified your existence with that one.
Brighton is filled with incredible architecture, everywhere you look up you find yourself looking at beautiful old buildings. Here take a look at some examples:
A postcard from Brighton Beach
Princes House, North Street - one of many fantastic buildings in the city of Brighton
The Royal Pavilion is a former royal residence located in Brighton, England. It was built in three campaigns, beginning in 1787, as a seaside retreat for George, Prince of Wales, from 1811 Prince Regent. As the first major piece of touristy behaviour on our part we were very excited by our visit. What the hell is with audio guides in museums these days? Not a single person looked like they were enjoying their visit as the wandered around with these mobile phones from the mid 90s attached to their ears. Brighton Pavillion provide them free to everybody who buys an entry ticket, but we refused to accept them. Taking our time we wandered around in awe of the ridiculous frivolity engaged in by the Prince Regent.
There was a no photography rule in place so I cannot share the mind boggling size or decor with you but I did manage a sneaky photo of the smallest item on display instead.
This miniature Bhagavad Gita is over 100 years old and was found in the "Indian Military Hospital" display room. This room commemorates the palace being turned in to a hospital solely for Indian soldiers injured whilst fighting for Britain during The Great War.
For all you film fans here's an interesting artefact found in the old fashioned penny palace arcade; a crank handle operated flicker card magnifier giving the effect of watching films of two burlesque performances. I tried in vain to get a decent picture of the image seen in the viewfinder but those semi naked women will have to remain a secret until you visit for yourself.
There was a large amount of book shops visited and naturally books purchased, here's some images for all you book lovers:
Books, you're doing them right
Colin Page Antiquarian Books in Brighton is exactly what you imagine a secondhand bookshop to be like, I stepped through the front door and let out an involuntary gasp at how pretty it was.
Books, you're doing it wrong
Rainbow Books in Brighton seems to function at the opposite end of the market, here was a man who seems to have become overwhelmed by the volume of books he couldn't resist buying and was now paying the price in terms of collapsing shelves. This one very much reminded me of the Philip K. Dick descriptions of the world in Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep.
Crystal Palace Public Library and their traditional English Pub style sign
Finally I shall leave you with something wonderful found in an English newspaper; we complain bitterly about the lack of actual news found in The West Australian newspaper but I'm not sure even that rag would publish this headline:
Is this the best headline ever?
Now then, now then, it's time to coffee, pastries and The Sunday Times so I bid you farewell. Tomorrow we fly to Budapest.
Today, it's time to respond to an award from a fellow blogger! Dan Heaton from Public Transportation Snob
has generously passed along the Liebster Award, which asks each
recipient to respond to a series of questions. You all know Dan as that massively entertaining guy whose posts are almost always themed and attacks a subject en masse. His current marathon theme is International Gangsters and started with a bang thanks to a great review of French flick A Prophet. I've since received the award twice more, the incredibly beautiful blog Love & Squalor and everyone's favourite film maker blog And So It Begins were also kind enough to pass on the love.
I'm giving it a go, but by this point there can't be many blogs left to
pass it on to. If any of you fine readers feel like answering any one of
the 11 questions I pose at the end feel free to leave it in the
comments, I'm sure it'll be fascinating.
Here are the rules for the Liebster Award:
1. Each person must post 11 things about themselves.
2. Answer the 11 questions the person giving the award has set for you.
3. Create 11 questions for the people you will be giving the award to.
4. Choose 11 people to award and send them a link to your post.
5. Go to their page and tell them.
6. NO TAG BACKS
Eleven Random Things About blahblahblahToby
1. Currently enjoys his lack of employment way too much for it to be healthy and can be found most days laying on the sofa reading.
2. Wishes he was still a 21 year old hipster and dresses like it.
3. If he were to have a fight with any character from The Dark Knight Rises it'd be Bruce Wayne becaue he has a gimpy leg.
4. Has an addictive personality and is currently working on filling his apartment with books so that one day they might topple over and crush him - death by book porn?
5. Is endlessly procrastinating, never finishes anything and allows each new creative idea to push the current one aside.
6. Once dreamed of being a lawyer because he'd read too much John Grisham at a young age but Theodore Boone got there first. There's a reason Disney hasn't made a movie about lawyers you know.
7. Has noticed that any picture relating to Harry Potter or Disney gets more page views than anything else he's posted and is not ashamed of using that fact to boost his blogs stats.
8. Would have answered Maura Tierney to any question relating to picking an actress for anything until relatively recently and is sad that her career never really got going on the big screen before getting stuck on ER.
9. Loves the writing of Megan Abbott and the depressing yet true, shocking story of Barbara Payton, Franchot Tone and Tom Neal that features in the background of her novel The Song Is You.
10. Still considers becoming a professional football manager because a) he loves the sport and b) he's excellent at the Sports Interactive game Football Manager.
11. Enjoys comparing movie love affairs to his own life because his own life always seems perfect in comparison.
Eleven Questions From Dan 1. What's the best movie of 2012 so far?
OK, so according to letterboxd I've seen eighteen movies released in 2012. The one I enjoyed the most has got to be Chronicle. I expected so little from the (relatively) small budgeted sci-fi thriller but director Josh Trank provided so much. It was a real pleasure to watch a good idea turned in to a highly enjoyable movie thanks to the talent of a new director, especially when it would have been so easy to make it generic and derivitive and a horrible mishmash of pop culture.
2. What's the worst movie of 2012 so far?
The Dark Knight Rises. Simply for how disappointed I was. It's not anywhere near as bad as John Carter in reality but then DKR provided my worst experience of a movie.
3.What is your favorite band or artist?
The Decemberists win this one hands down at the moment and for the past few years. Just taking a look at my all time plays on last.fm will tell you that I've played The Decemberists 8 times more than anyone else. Colin Meloy has a wonderful voice and he's a fantastic storyteller. He even writes kids books.
4. What's your opinion on singing karaoke?
Never. No way. You can't make me.
One of my most horrifying formative experiences is as a ten year old being left on stage by my sister to sing a song I'd never heard of n front of hundreds of people. Even now I wince at the thought of it and my heart is racing from the terror.
5. Spike Lee: Overrated or underrated?
When he's on form there's nobody better than Lee but he's his own worst enemy with some of the terrible films he's made, but then so is Woody Allen and he married his own daughter. At least Spike Lee's only apparent crime in the eyes of Hollywood is that he's black.
6. Although he won't admit it, does Tommy Wiseau realize that The Room is terrible?
Oh. I certainly hope so. Can you imagine the state of that guys mind if he didn't? But admitting so would cook the golden goose and he'd never be able to attend screenings as a superstar.
7. Beyond movies, what is your area of expertise for a trivia team?
Arsenal Football Club. Somehow this is what my brain is wasted on and why I identify so readily with Nick Hornby's Fever Pitch.
8. What's your favorite brand of cereal?
No cereal required when you live in the land of Vegemite on toast.
If we're ever out for breakfast and I don't feel like eggs I will however have the bircher muesli.
9. Is The Tree of Life a brilliant movie, a self-indulgent mess, or somewhere in between?
I haven't seen it yet, it's long. I am lengthist.
10. Are you excited about the Olympics? If so, which competitions?
I haven't cared about the Olympics since 1992, I don't even care about the fact that Great Britain has a football team entered this time around. It's not real football.
11. What's the last movie that you watched?
Bill Cunningham, New York
What I Really Really Want To Know Is: (Eleven Questions Paid Forward) 1. If the events of Purple Rose of Cairo could really happen, which movie character would you want to walk off of the screen in to your miserable little life? 2. If you were marooned on another planet with a limited space hard drive on your solar powered Macbook Pro (I'm sure Steve Jobs had them working on this before he died) what three movies would you like to have in your videos folder? 3. Is reading 50 Shades of Grey on public transport a badge of pride, a cry for help, a statement of sexual dissatisfaction or a label that screams "easily led by media fads"? 4. If you had to live in the world of crime fiction would you prefer to be in an Agatha Christie, Raymond Chandler or Steig Larsson book? 5. You're stranded for 227 days in a boat with one animal, do you think a Bengal Tiger would eat you? 6. What superhero franchise would you give a dark and depressing Batman style reboot to on the big screen? 7. Gotham Central is a series of comic books about the lives of the gotham City Police Department and Death Comes To Pemberley is a detective novel set in the world of Pride & Prejudice, what fictional world would you like to see turned in to crime fiction and what type would it be? 8. Mint, Sage, Rosemary and Cinnamon, what flavour would you choose for your old fashioned tooth powder recipe? 9. You're tasked with programming an independant film festival, what genre do you focus on? Documentary, Horror, Anime, Martial Arts or World Cinema? 10. Witches, burn them at the stake or dunk them in the lake? 11. Which city in Europe would you most like to visit during the 2012 London Olympics?
