More Green Balls

After Monday night's tennis watching, I decided 'Hmmm, yes I will become an Australian Open Member.  I want to buy finals tickets for next year.'  Whether or not I'll actually be able to attend the finals is another story.  Oh well, I'm sure there are people out there who would happily take my ticket.  

As a result of becoming a member, I was also given two 'free' ground passes.  Yes, they're 'free' but really, the costs have been covered by my membership fee.  With two ground passes at hand, what else but to make use of them!  

Being the middle weekend of the Open, many of the better matches would be on Centre Court or Hisense Arena.  Spuey and I made sure we got there reasonably early to park our butts on the unallocated seats of Margeret Court Arena to at least guarantee seeing some seeded players.  

Our view.

My very big hat.  Fanks Moo.

A legends match.  Henri Le Conte and Guy Forget versus Richard Fromberg and Darren Cahill.  Probably one of the most entertaining doubles matches I've seen.  Henri Le Conte is a cracker.  

Spu and I also saw Makarova defeat Zvonereva, Gasquet defeat Tipsarevic and Borat national and lookalike Kukushkin defeated a clearly injured Monfils.  As usual, the women's match was a snorefest.  Gasquest and Tipsarevic gave us some action and brought out the French chanting 'Alllllleeeeeeeeeezzz!!  ' and 'Gasquet fans in the stands.  If you can hear us claps your hands!'. *clap-clap, clapclapclap, clap-clap-clap, clapclap!* 

I was looking forward to watching the gangly Monfils, however the match was disappointing.  He obviously strained something very early on in the first set and was managing only pissy 140km serves.  This gave 90-something ranked Borat ample opportunity to win free points.  It was quite painful to watch a dejected seeded player facing off a not so polished opponent.  I really thought that he would lose in straight sets after losing the first two, but Monfils held out and lost in five.  *Applause* but still, Monfils should've given Borat a beating.  What was more entertaining were the crowd.  One asked Monfils to take the game seriously and ask who was his bookie.  Other spectators cheered 'GO BORAT!' and shouted 'Veli naiiiiice'-Borat style.  You gotta love the witty crowd.  

Despite the big hat and frequent sunscreen application, I still got sunburnt.

My ridiculous one arm tan.  The sun was beating down on my left side and as a result, I protected Spu from the sun!!  

Next year, hopefully I'll be posting about the finals!!!!

Kokoro Ramen & Watching Green Balls

It's that time of the year again where people enjoy watching little green balls fly back and forth between two weapon-welding individuals. Yes, the tennis!!  More specifically the Australian Open.  

But first, one must have dinner.  It was on my to-eat list so it was a good thing that Kahunas suggested Kokoro Ramen.  I had high hopes for Kokoro.  I REALLY wanted to like it.  I thought that it would be Melbourne's ramen salvation.  Homemade noodles, a promise of a tasty broth, Japanese spoken in the kitchen. (Real? Fake?  Who knows.  In all likelihood, this is not run by Japanese folk.)  

In short:  Big promise.  Failed to deliver.  

I had the tonkotsu shio ramen broth base with pork belly.  ($13-14??  Can't remember.)

The ramen came fast enough and the egg sure looked gooey and hanjuku-y.  We were able to stipulate the tenderness of the noodles which is an indication of authencity but that's where the positives end.

I have a number of criticisms.  The slice of pork belly was FAR too fatty.  I know it's a fatty cut but this was about 10% meat and 90% fat.  Gross and inedible.  Also where were the ancillary toppings?  Bamboo shoots, black fungus, narutomaki, maybe some bean shoots?  Zilch.  The broth didn't look like the typically milky white tonkotsu pork bone broth either.  The look of the broth didn't bother me as much - how it tastes is what matters.  I could forgo all the extra toppings if the broth made me dreamy.... but it didn't.  Their big claim is no MSG but this was the most bland stock I've tasted.  I've had tonkotsu instant noodles taste better than this.  If  you're gonna claim it has no MSG, make it tasty dammit.  

I'm willing to accept that Kokoro may have had a bad night and will probably give it another bash before panning it completely.  Judging from other reviews, it looks as though I'm not the only one who wasn't impressed.  My ramen search continues....  Somewhat unsatisfied with dinner, I picked up a char siu bao on the way down to the tennis.  

On Centre Court, we were treated to some pre-game entertainment.  Daryl Brathwaite opened Night 1 of the Open with 'One Summer'.  My age and childhood addiction to Video Hits is evident!  It remained a balmy 30 degrees at 8pm when the players stepped on the court and good for us, we were going to watch one of the great players Roger Federer.  Being Night 1, he was playing some Russian ranked 100-something.  

The last time I went to the Australian Open it was 2005.  We witnessed an absolutely epic, four and a half hour, nail-biting semi-final when Safin defeated Federer.

2005 SF Safin def. Federer - match highlights.  Man, I still talk about this match being one of the greatest.  It was so stressful! 

The audio isn't great but a very good on-court interview.  We sang Safin happy birthday!!

Enough about past, onto tonight's matches.

Our view.  Yay! 

Federer serving. 

Three sets later.  Federer with Courier for the on-court interview.  Gracious as usual.

I was also impressed by a spidery camera contraption they had set up on Centre Court.  Aaaaah now I understand how they obtain those awesome panoramic shots and amazing TV angles.  

The women's match was pretty boring.  A woman undeserving of her rank, number 1 Caroline Wozniacki played an Aussie (wildcard?) and it was just a yawn fest.  We ended up leaving after the first set.  What was more entertaining were the actions of a fellow spectactor sitting in the row in front of us.  She dropped her Magnum ice cream on the ground but then picked it up and continued to eat it.  At least peel off the chocolate layer!  

Something else more entertaining than the women's match......

.... what is that on her back??? 

GROSS!  A giant moth!!!!!!! 

Oh well, that's what you get for a balmy Summer's night at the Open.

Boyce Avenue Concert

I first stumbled across Boyce Avenue while writing my Thriller Live review.  I was trying to find some performances by the Token White Guy and saw him sing an acoustic version of Leona Lewis' 'Bleeding Love', which made me then type 'bleeding love acoustic' in the youtube search bar.  Just an example of how surfing on the internet can lead to discoveries. 

Anyway, I came across Boyce Avenue's version:

This is already an awesome song and an acoustic version was just as nice to listen to.  I watched a few more Boyce Avenue clips and thought, 'Hey you guys are waaaay better than a lot of commercial acts out there.'  They flew off my radar for a while until someone posted this on my FB feed:

Waaah!  So good woar!!

So I went back to watching more clips which had become slightly more sophisticated and saw that they had accrued a pretty big fanbase.  It wasn't hard to see why - they have a pretty good knack at turning bad songs to good and good songs to even better!    So when I found out they would be performing in Munich, I told Mooey and we made a mental note to go.  However, we underestimated their popularity and tickets were sold out by the time we were ready to purchase them :(  Boo hoo.  

I saw that there were tickets still available for their London performance and decided to ask if any Londoners wanted to join me.  The good news was that they were already going!  Yaaaaaay!  

Our view of the stage.

The venue was Koko in Camden which has housed many famous acts usually in their up and coming days.  I had hoped that they would perform a lot of the covers I'd seen on youtube but they mainly performed original material which were okay.  Maybe they just weren't to my musical tastes but honestly, I couldn't picture any of the original songs becoming huge international hits.  Maybe they need a little hand in the songwriting department.  

The covers which they did performed were tailored for the British crowd who got pretty excited at Take That's 'Back for Good' and Oasis' 'Wonderwall'.  Yay!  Will Boyce Avenue be a huge band one day?  Who knows but they sure do have the potential.  

The Royal Wedding

Today was a special day - I was going to witness history in the making!!  It was Will and Kate's wedding day!  Wow, I couldn't believe that I was going to be in town for an event that was going to go on the same list as Henry VIII's several marriages, Queen Victoria's marriage to her first cousin Prince Albert (ew) and Charles and Diana's nuptials.

Like most people I had watched Prince William grow up through reading the usual women's trash mags.  We are similar in age, so it was like we grew up together!  Except he was in pictorials and I errrr wasn't.  His wedding day?  I'm gatecrashing.

Seeing all the bunting out on the street, department store displays and decorated public transport, it was hard not to feel proud of being British... or in my case feeling proud of being pseudo-British.  Also, the cheese hoarder in me was being roused out of hibernation by the displays of crass, kitschy souvenirs - I wanted them all!

Eww, my wrinkly, old woman hand.  A £2 imitation Royal Engagement ring from the ever faithful Primmy.  So many imitations for varying prices, this was the best bargain by far.  How could I say no to this bit of fun?  Well I didn't say no and I ended up buying five of them.  Gifts, of course.  I originally bought one from M&S for £18!!  It was a better finished replica than the £2 Primmy one but it didn't sit on my finger well.  

Ok so on to the actual day.  I originally had been quite prepared to head in early morning and set up a roadside camp.  However, the idea of only having a portaloo for 6 -8 hours (or no nearby loos!) was not very appealing.  Leesh had looked into several of the luncheon options offered by the opportunistic businesses around town and we settled on Altitude 360 and their Wedding Breakfast.  We were confused as to why they referred to it as a 'breakfast' when it was going to be served at lunch but this wiki entry explains the history.

Altitude was located at the top of the Millbank Tower and in the back of my head, I always thought, "Hmm that's kinda far from the action."  But with their description of being 'steps away from Westminster Abbey', I thought, "Yay!" despite knowing that 1 kilometre is hardly considered being 'steps away'.

'Breakfast' wasn't going to be served until 1pm but doors were open from 10am for the live broadcast.  My day began with a walk down the Thames. 

This giant seagull wasn't going to joining in on the celebrations. 

Not sure where this guy was going with his painting of the couple. 

Walking over Westminster Bridge and observing the slow march of people heading towards the abbey. 

Oh dammit, here I am walking away from the action! 

Our view of the abbey.  Well I guess they didn't lie.  It was a view of the abbey but just not a very useful view.  

There was an excited gasp as Kate left her hotel and we got a glimpse of the dress designed by Sarah Burton of the Alexander McQueen fashion house.  Very Grace Kelly and royalty-cover-your-arms appropriate.

Will and Kate exchanging vows.  The balcony kiss.  It did feel a bit silly to photograph a TV.  

Now on to the breakfast which was based on food served at Diana and Charles' wedding.

(L-R) Home cured Scottish salmon with fennel Carpaccio.  Supreme de Voilaille Princess de Galles chicken breast stuffed with a fine lamb mousse served with spring vegetables and new potatoes.  British rhubarb trio – rhubarb crumble, rhubarb braised with orange and rhubarb with ginger ice cream.  Hedgehog slice I think. 

To be honest, the food was pretty average and not worth the price tag.  But that's what happens at events like these and I had been mentally prepared to be ripped off.  I couldn't help but think 'Is this really what they served at D&C's wedding?'  It was rather... plain!  (Arguably, that makes it British too.) 

Afterwards, we went out for a walk to Westminster and Buckingham Palace.  The crowds were still out and about and from what Smee reported, a lot of people had actually been denied access to the Royal Wedding Procession route.  Despite it looking crowded on TV, a much larger number of people had converged at Trafalgar Square (and other access points) but were not allowed entry.  Smee reported fights breaking out between frustrated members of the public trying to get in hahaha.  

Bobbies on a break from crowd control. 

Bobbies on The Mall.

Horsies on The Mall.  

Someone had to say it.  Why not put it on a poster? 

The kissing balcony.  They shortly began dismantling the decorations while we were there.  

But not before I got my pic of me displaying my ring outside Buckingham Palace!

We spotted Jane Seymour interviwing... someone.  She's looking mighty fine for a 60 year old.  

The aftermath from days of crowd camping.  

This is very considerate.  These campers left their rubbish in a nice, neat pile.  

With the party drawing to a close, I headed off home with a few extra mementos (Royal Wedding Official Program, Will & Kate flag, crown headband) and added them to my growing collection.  

Fireworks

Today was a public holiday - Australia Day to be precise.  I had assumed that I would be working but was genuinely surprised to be told that shopping centres would be shut in Adelaide.  Weally?  WEALLY?  The whole concept of shopping centres not opening on public holidays (bar Christmas, New Years and Good Friday) is a foreign concept to me. 

I was hoping that at least Rundle Mall and supermarkets would be open but ... no... the streets were deserted except for the occasional cafe.  I tell you what though, Adelaide Chinatown was pretty happening today! 

I'd been provided a most comfortable apartment which was prime location for fireworks viewing.  I was going to post up my 5 minute video but decided nah..... I'll just post two photos instead!

Bodyworlds

It's such a cliched thing to say but the human body is an amazing piece of work.  It's like 'Wow!  All these cells are working together to make up us!'  Heh - the pathetic little things we are.

I first heard about Bodyworlds some number of years ago when SBS (or was it ABC?) aired Gunther von Hagens' live autopsies.  I only managed to watch one or two episodes - I think it must have conflicted with an young adult TV show or something.  So when I saw posters that Bodyworlds was coming to London, I put it on my to-do list.

As usual, you should always try not to pay full price for any exhibition in London and yep, I found a 2 for 1 on lastminute.com.  The website is surprisingly good for such things.  Paying £15 for a full price ticket is otherwise a bit steep!  I had expected to meet a long queue of people at the entrance but there was nothing of the sort.  Yay!  It wasn't going to be crowded.

I had expected the exhibition be displayed in normal lighting so I was a little surprised to see that minimal lighting was used and it bordered on a being inside a silent version of Abercrombie & Fitch.... errr and instead of preppy clothes there were bodies.  Unfortunately no photography is allowed of the plastinated cadavers which left me a little disappointed because that's all I wanted to do!

Whilst I am fully aware that these are actual bodies, my personal opinion is that it felt like I was looking at a biology/anatomy textbook.  Every so often, I would look at the fingernails of the models and it would hit me that I was in fact looking at a cadaver and then I would ponder what this person looked like before dying but then that would give way to 'Oh this person donated their body to science' and then my next thought would be 'I'm soooo donating my organs when I die'.<-- In fact, you can take that as my legal statement.

It didn't occur to me until writing this blog that such an exhibition would conjour up controversy.  Obviously I don't advocate any form of illegal sourcing of cadavers (duh!!!) but if someone gave their explicit consent, then what is the big freaking deal?  Also, the cadavers engaging in coitus. The - I guess happy? - couple were displayed in a separate room and you could choose not to see them demonstrating the reverse-cowgirl position.  (Google the position if you have to.)  But again, to me, it felt like I was looking at a copy of a factual sex manual or the (particularly extensive) reproduction section of a biology textbook.  Meh.  Nothing I haven't seen before in a women's magazine.  Most of us are products of copulation, you know.

Smee, even with his non-science-y background found the exhibit fascinating.   The plastinated giraffe was way cool as was the man on the horse.  Sure I've seen a horse in the flesh, but this horse was particularly big!

The exhibit didn't take too long to go through (about an hour) and we were rewarded with a little paper certificate congratulating us for making it to the exit doors.  Bonus!!

Queens Club

In the lead up to Wimbledon, a mens only tournament is held every year at the Queens Club.  Having boss who loves his tennis (and gave me my Wimbledon tickets last year hehehe) meant that our office got a half day off work for 'training' at the Queens Club.  Tee hee!

It's kinda weird that play starts after lunch.  I'm used to tournaments starting at 11 or so.  After a few drinks at the pub (no I don't drink beer), we arrived at the ground at 2pm.  We had left our ticket booking a bit late and were only able to reserve ground passes.  Upon reaching the entrance booths we were told that no more games were being played on the outside courts due to injury and other games finishing early.  Wtf..... !!  It was looking like it we might just have to return to the pub.

We remained standing at the front of the queue for about 15 mins whilst the ticket booth people decided what to do with us and the queue of people growing behind.  I'm happy to say that they reissued us new tickets - on centre court! YAY!!!!!!

My view of the court (right).  For such a well established tournament they've really not put much thought into the seating arrangement.  Obviously my seat was located in one of the corners (not a bad view) but I was conscious of my neck being constantly turned to the left which was not terribly comfortable after a prolonged period.  I tried sitting with my neck not turned and adjusted my eyes to a left gaze but that wasn't comfortable after awhile either.  Why isn't the seating curved at the corners like other tennis show courts?  Crappy seating arrangements are expected on crappy courts but this is Centre Court at Queeeeeeens. Not impressed. 

We made it to our seats just in time to see the remainder of the Andy Murray match.  The Brits go mad for him here; their one and only tennis hope in a long, long time.  He won his match.

I was aware that the ground pass tickets we had were for pretty shit matches so to have Andy Roddick and Lleyton Hewitt rock on, I was pretty pleased that we were gonna get some good play on the court. 

Roddick and Hewitt in for the coin toss. 

Hewitt doing something..... Roddick going in for the shot.

I was egging on Roddick, he seems a cool guy despite marrying a swimsuit model whom he met only after seeing her photo.  Hewitt has always slightly irritated me (C'MON!!) and most often I will side with his opponent anyway.  I walked past his wife, Bec in the grounds.  She looks like she does on TV (that's a compliment). 

Cheesy tourist shot!

I had expected Hewitt to be thrashed but he stuck it out and was in pretty fine form.  Roddick's serve was fairly dominating and he would win points quite easily whereas Hewitt had to fight for a lot of his points.  I was hoping for a third and deciding set but it was over in two.

The scoreboard 7-6, 7-6 Roddick wins!

We finished off the day with a Pimms :D  I didn't care too much for the following match (I don't even know who played but I think it was doubles) so off to the tube I went!

La Clique

I first heard of La Clique back in 2006 when the Famous Spiegeltent set up shop during late Spring. We tried to get tickets for the La Clique show but they were sold out way in advance. I didn't really have an idea of what the show was about, but I thought it was just burlesque dancing. Entertaining nonetheless and it would have added some variety to work/drinkies cycle I was going through.

So the opportunity arose to watch it at the Hippodrome at Leicester Square. All I needed to do was shell out £25 for the ticket and meal offer. London is quite good like that - no one ever pays full price for a theatre ticket!

Dinner was a quickie and then we scooted off to the Hippodrome which I've walked past many times but was unaware of it's existence. La Clique is more or less a feat/freak show and a circus tent-like structure was successfully recreated in the theatre.

Our tickets were free sitting/standing and thankfully we managed to scum a row of seats with a decent view. The show opened with a puppet which I can only described as 'a head with an afro on a slinky'. It was manipulated by two puppeteers to the song "If You Could Read My Mind". With all due respect to Gordon Lightfoot and his original version, there are times when I absolutely f*%king detest the Starz on 54 version. I'm not sure why that is.... hmmm. It's like it is capable of flicking on the hater switch in me.

Anyway, tonight was one of those times when I was hating the song. In my mind I begged that this didn't represent that types of act we were going to see. It's only now that I realise the puppeteers were quite talented however during the song, I couldn't see past all the hating and it felt like an eternity.

The follow up act certainly proved to be redeeming - The English Gents. Hmmm who are actually Australian. Two men balancing on each other in various positions. Sounds not so impressive but trust me they were. Those handstands/headstands/armstands require exceptional body strength. It also helped that these two boys had some seriously cut up bodies. Not in a horrible bodybuilder steroids way, but in an athletic way. Muscle percentage? Zero. Hehehe.

Our MC for the night was Mario. He was pretty good at juggling in time with Queen's 'Another One Bites the Dust'. Captain Frodo was captivating but in a disgusting contortionist kind of way. Ursula Martinez - well you can see her act here. Be warned - it's NSFW!

Njla happily told us the secret to this trick - a thumb glove! She used to perform that trick herself when she was a wee lass. Maybe not the naked bit though.

The Skating Willers were another highlight but at first I thought 'Seriously?? Their whole act is rollerskating??' However it was on circular platform no more than 1.5 metres diameter. Also for part of their stunt, they were only connected by a neck collar - eek!

I've been told the performers vary night to night and but I'm glad to say that we did see the Bath Boy. Dressed in just a pair of jeans, he fluttered in and out of a bath tub using only his strength to hoist himself up and down some leather straps. Yeah, he was pretty freaking hot too. A trained gymnast, I'm glad he's putting his skills to good use for the ladies' viewing pleasure.

It's too good to be true - he's probably gay!

If you're not a fan of physical stunts, freak shows and living life in general, then please don't see La Clique. Otherwise, dole out the small amount of cash and have an easy night out while someone else does the tough work.

Russell Peters

When news went around last year that Russell Peters would be in town, I was like 'Me! Me! I want tickets!' So yep, that's how me and Smee spent Valentine's Day (it's a rort of a day anyway). For anyone who hasn't heard of Russell Peters, just search for a few clips on youtube or go to his website. Just look at his face - it's laughable already!

We were in the heaven seats and it made Smee a little ill to look down. I guess it didn't make much of a difference given that all the funny stuff would be heard and hardly any of it was visual.

Our view of the stage.

The warm up act were two DJs (I can't recall both names but one was DJ Spinbad) were really good. Nothing beats a good DJ battle.

Our view of the stage with Russell on it.

I guess the main appeal of Russell Peters is that he just does racial jokes really well. His Mandarin, Cantonese, Korean, Vietnamese accents are just spot on and hilarious! In a way, I enjoyed it more because I haven't watched any of his recent stuff so a lot of the jokes were new to me. Here's a bit of his stuff:

Go and see him if you can! Especially if you're a migrant :D

Happy New Year!

It's that time of the year to say 'Happy New Year!' or more specifically 'Happy Gregorian New Year!' I'm not keen on the whole ringing in the new year in the freezing cold, so I was more than content to have a subdued celebration.

Smee and I had a few peeps over for drinks and nibbles. Nothing overly fancy. Spag Bol was one of the dishes! Luigi (not his real name) brought his authentic spag bol, none of that run of the mill, imitation stuff. Nope, this came from a real Italian.

The sauce had simmered for a good three hours. And yes, the spag bol was indeed very nice.

My contribution were rice paper rolls *boring*

The Portuguese couple (I think I'll call them P1 and P2) brought cakey and wine.

A few drinkies and some very well fed stomachs later, it was time to mosey on down to the bridge for some fireworks. Not the best bridge to view the London fireworks, but hey, it's a bridge and we didn't have to fight massive crowds nor sit there for six hours minding our spots.

The highlight of our two minute walk to the bridge was passing a couple engaging in coitus. You read that correctly, they were having a good old fashioned root. Doggy-style to be precise. No, they weren't naked, just pants down around the ankles. They thought they had found a secluded lane, but little did they know that the surrounding area is indeed fairly residential. At first we walked past them with barely a glance but then doubled-back to confirm that we weren't hallucinating. Did they see us? Sure they did. Did they stop? Nope. I was going to take a photo but was quickly hauled away by Smee. Clearly these two people had some loose ends to tie-up before embarking on any New Year resolutions. I didn't bother warning the people walking behind us, but they had a similar reaction to ours.

I think I've said it before but I'll say it again. For a city this size, you would think that the fireworks would be super dooper spectacular, but in my humble opinion they're quite crap. I hear that the Bonfire Night fireworks are much better. The Thames is a decent length of river and really, it would be a good idea to have fireworks at different sections. However it all just seems to be concentrated at the London Eye. You can imagine the crowds and possible fistfights on Waterloo and Westminster bridges.

Anyway, correct me if I'm wrong and that fireworks are elsewhere on the river but I couldn't see any others east of the London Eye. Btw, fireworks in Greenwich don't count - too far! I think Sydney NYE fireworks set such a high standard, anything else is just blah blah in comparison.

Here's a video of what I saw. That is not me cheering in the background.

The view of the London Eye as we headed back home.

We retired back to the flat for some Caiprinhas. Aaaah.... nice.... Happy New Year y'all!

Monkey: Journey to the West

Monkey was ritual TV viewing when I was growing up. Every afternoon at 5.30pm, my siblings and I gathered at TV to watch the 'irrespressible!' Monkey along with Sandy, Pigsy and Tripitaka make their way across to India to retrieve some Buddhist scriptures. Whoever didn't watch this as child, I pity your deprived childhood. That theme song is just genius!

I learned many valuable lessons watching Monkey:

• Be weary of perverted men (Pigsy)
• When Japanese people speak English, their lips don't match the words
• Don't cover your child's mouth when they're crying. You might kill them (Traumatic episode, that one)
• Traveling via cloud is very efficient
  

One thing that confused me as a child was Tripitaka. I now know why they cast a female but when you're young all you think is 'how come he looks and sounds like a girl?'

I was DYING to watch Monkey: Journey to the West when I first heard about it at the Manchester International Festival last year. Too bad I don't live in Manchester on top of that, too bad I found out about it a month too late.

Another missed opportunity was when it ran for a week (!?! just one?!?) at the London Royal Opera house. I tried to book tickets but all that were left were cruddy ones. So when I saw posters in the Tube for another run, I initially thought I was looking at an old advertisement but then got super-excited when I saw the dates of the show!

A purpose built tent was constructed for the show at the 02 to allow for an extended run. The important thing to understand about the show is that is not a stage version of the hit TV series, but rather a Chinese opera. And... it was all in Mandarin too. I know that aspect of the show is going to be a difficult one to overcome for a lot of folk.

Outside the tent.

I'm gonna say all the cliches here - visually stunning, amazing acrobatics, all with the expected military execution we've come to expect from Chinese performers, a-la Olympics ceremony style. I don't think any of the stunts were faked, but I'm not too sure. It was especially good to see my extended family spinning plates on sticks. I'm allowed to make these kinds of jokes because I'm ethnically sound and any jibes are merely self-depreciating.

It is a show for everyone? Most definitely not. Anyone who goes expecting to relive their childhood, should read a bit more into it before buying tickets. But otherwise, I really enjoyed it!

Gordon Ramsay Cookalong

I managed to score some free tickets to a taping of celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay's Cookalong Live *excited face*. For those who are unfamilar with the concept, the ingredients used on the night are posted on the internet a week prior to taping and the show is broadcast live. You literally 'cook along' with Gordon at home. I had four tickets in total, so Smee, Lil Miss J and J joined us. We arrived an hour early for the taping yet a queue had already formed.... grrrrrrr....

Wrist passes were handed to us when we reached the end of the queue - yay! Guaranteed entry!

Once in we were ushered to a cloak room where we had to dump our belongings whether we wanted to or not.

The filming studio unlike the taping of 'The Fashion Show' was in a warehouse which was open to all the elements. Not great for those standing near the door on a November night. Brrrr... Again, we were taught how to clap and more importantly because this would be airing live... when to clap. Oooh, technical.

Our view of the stage. Great view but it meant our chance to be on TV was very slim!

The guest chef cooking with Gordon tonight was Britain's Got Talent judge, Amanda Holden. She was a little annoying. David Coulthard was one of the guests who would be served food. Wow, his jaw is bizarrely square.

The funniest part of the night was when a Ramsay lookalike appeared with Gordon's wife. Some lookalikes are really bad, but this guy... he was uncanny. Here he is in action.

Blink and you'll miss us! A friend who watched the live show from home reported seeing us on TV. Yay! They must have been searching for us pretty hard because the screenshots I've found ... well you have to squint a fair bit and use your imagination.

The four of us indicated by the yellow arrows.

Me and Smee under the yellow arrows!

Maybe if we managed to get high definition recording of the show, the above screenshots might have been clearer.

The night didn't end too late but we were all pretty starving and unfortunately the food that was cooked was not served to us!

One last photo in the kitchen.