Handbag Time!

The sales are on and the sales are sure damn good here. 50% off designer handbags!  Yippee!!!! Where else can you get such a deal?  I had to refrain from joining  the queue at Harrods for the 50% Gucci *sigh*

The purpose of this post is just to display my new handbag (yes he was half price). I have decided to call him Elephunt for the obvious reasons.  Soft, squishy, roomy handbags I do like.  Whatever - I like most handbags!  Typical.

Elephunt does smell a bit 'too leathery' and 'animal-y'at this stage but I'm hoping that will fade. 

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!!

RIP Michael Jackson

I suppose I should put my two cents in along with the rest of the world.  It was about 11.30pm in London last night when I was reading a news website and saw that Michael Jackson had been rushed to hospital.  Then of course I tried to google for more articles and found stuff saying he was dead!  What... the....

Being in London, I had followed the hype over his upcoming concerts.  I had wanted to attend but knowing the demand (and the fact I was broke) I decided to not try so hard to buy tickets.  I wasn't surprised when they pushed back the date of the opening concert and I always had a feeling that these concerts would be jeopardised somehow........ but not because he would DIE!!!!!!!!

It's a bit hard to believe but at the same time his life was a bit.... all over the place.  Now I feel like I should go back and watch Thriller Live again because that's as close as I'll ever get to seeing MJ in concert. 

Despite all the weird going-ons with MJ, let's just celebrate the good stuff - his music.  I am proud to say I am the owner of his Off the Wall album.  I recall scouring various music stores in my early 20s (before the Ipod age) trying to find that particular CD.  Why did I want it so badly?  Because of this freaking awesome song!  (Sorry, I'm not allowed to embed the actual music video)

RIP Michael Jackson!  Your music legacy will live on!

Taste of London: Regents Park

True to my word here I was off to another Taste Festival. This was Smee's first time and he was ready to enjoy the morsel sampling and freebie grabbing. The recession must've had some sort of impact because every dish seemed to have gone up by 2 Crowns! Wtf... that means less food for meeeeeeeee! :(

It was sunny, sunny, sunny and Smee regretted wearing pants...... errr meaning he should've worn shorts instead. After making our way through the entrance and collecting our menus we shuffled our way around the grounds eyeing the various samples on offer.

I was a little disappointed to see that some of the restaurants which had participated last year simply re-hashed their menu.  Why not offer new gastronomic delights? Poo to you!  In a way it was a good thing because last year I missed out on sampling the sold-out Joel Robuchon's foie gras mini burger.  It was back on for my tummy's desires and off we went to queue for it.  Mmmmm foie gras....The burger was nice as you'd expect but I was a little disappointed that the piece of foie gras was so small.  Look at that thin rectangular slice - I want more liver dammit! 

Sitting pretty nearby to foie gras burger was Quo Vadis with their disturbingly large pieces of steak.  It was truly a cow's nightmare.  All that it meant to Smee was that his mouth started watering.  We sampled the grilled rib of 48 day Hereford beef (....eh?).  It was served with a single chip.  Yes, just ONE chip.  It was an excellent fried chip but still it was just a lonesome chip.  

As if we haven't already consumed enough bovine, our next dish was a serving of carpaccio on rocket from Ristorante Semplice. 

Contemplating what the next dish should be....

No, the man dressed as a tomato - I couldn't eat him.  Although he did have some nice tomato samples on offer.  The jamon leg complete with a hoof.  Mmmmmm... cured meat...

Did I say we had too much meat?  Our next dish was Rhodes Twenty Four's braised beef.  

More contemplating..... 

In the midst of scabbing food samples here and there (hello yummy Fishworks taramasalata and mackerel dips -yum!) Smee also had a crack at winning an apple slicer.  This involved throwing six little beanbags into holes to score a required number of points.  The eight year old kid before Smee managed to win a slicer, so Smee really needed to prove himself.  After missing the first beanbag (!!) it was tense finish that depended heavily on the final throw to win the coveted apple slicer.  I shall pat Smee on the back because I am now the proud owner of the apple slicer!  YAY!

Smee with his parmesan cheese sample.  He actually chipped away at the barrel of cheese to get a 'flake' that was 10 times the size of my own flake and more like the size of a biscuit.

A big leather pig.  I want! I want one!

The Garlic Farm selling all things - you guessed it - garlicky!  Raw garlic has never tasted so good!  Btw, the pic doesn't demonstrate it well, but those fresh garlic bulbs were the size of my fist.

Me and Smee washing our hands on a giant ice block.  Errr ... yeah!

It may not looked like we ate a lot of the signature dishes, but when you're sampling food left, right, centre and stopping anyone who parades past with a food tray, you start feeling a bit heavy.  We still had our Crowns to use and decided to go with the flow of this year's showcase - Thai food.  I'm not a big fan of Thai food and by that I mean, I like eating it but I don't think it's anything particularly special nor exotic.  It's probably because I was fed similar stuff after leaving my mother's womb. However, the sunny weather called for some lighter eating.

Our final five dishes.  Mango Tree's barbecue chicken leg with papaya salad.   

Benja's marinated duck breast with chilli, garlic pepper and basil.  

Busaba Eathai's pandan chicken.  

You can't go anywhere in the UK without eating curry of sorts - Benares' tandoor smoked lamb chop with mint chutney.  Finally for dessert, we returned to Rhodes Twenty Four for their lemon tart with strawberries or in my case - strawberry.  Smee doesn't eat sweet stuff but he managed to eat most of my tart!! 

As per last year, I ruv such food festivals and can't wait to come again!  However in the case of Taste of London I'm not sure when 'again' will be!

Doggie

Smee and I hopped on the tube today and saw that there were a few free seats at the opposite end of the carriage.  Making our way down we saw why people had left our seats free - a doggie on the floor!  A guide dog in training to be precise and it was a she not a he.  Smee nearly stepped on her tail because he didn't notice her sitting there. 

She re-adjusted herself so that her feet touched Smee's. Hehehe... 

That looks a bit like the beginning of a doggie grin.  I like dogs!

Elsa Peretti Exhibition

I was made aware of the Elsa Peretti exhibit at the British Museum by accident after purchasing one of the Sunday newspapers back in March. My regular Sunday newspaper reading had pretty much ceased when I moved to London and being near a Sunday paper nowadays is rare for me. I later came across this article and reminded myself to head off to the museum and look at Elsa's designs before they are carted off. Whilst JD was here she had seen it and thought it was something worthwhile.

Smee went off to play badminton and I enjoyed the company of .. my own self! It was a lovely day I might add to go for a walk to the museum. I nearly got a tan! (Too bad I don't like tanning).

I can't remember how I came to admire Peretti's designs. I acknowledge that there's been a bit of overkill with the open heart range and many a copycat but I have to confess that this is one of my favourite designs.

The exhibit was small (so fans, don't get your hopes up) but it details how Peretti sources her manufacturers and displays some of her sketch pads. I took a few photos but they didn't turn out so great.

Oooh the bean clutch.

Silver chain mail bags, diamonds by the yard and the ever present open heart necklaces.

Bone candlestick holders and errm.. I think it was soup pot.

Not an exhibit for everyone but those appreciative or curious about jewelry design should give it a whizz. I do wonder why that this exhibit is at the British Museum rather than the V&A?

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!

Sister Act: The Musical

I had the lovely JD come and stay with me and Smee after her conference in Manchester. I had said to her "You can't come all the way to Manchester and NOT come to London". She enjoyed the sights around town and as a thank-you took me out to watch the Sister Act musical which opened recently. The last time I watched the movie was ..... I don't know but it is a good movie. Who wouldn't enjoy a movie whereby nuns sing their rendition of pop songs?

I didn't do much research into the stage musical, but I knew that Whoopi Goldberg was involved in the it's production. That's always a good sign.

Those who are diehard fans of the movie and wanting the stage version to be a duplicate, be prepared to be bitterly, bitterly disappointed. The story is now set in the 1970s and a new character (not always a bad thing) Sweaty Eddie is introduced. Asides from the passing reference to Sister Sledge and The Village People, NONE of the commercial hits which featured heavily in the movie were in the stage musical. Additional songs are always written for musicals so during the first 10 minutes I wasn't terribly surprised to hear a unfamiliar melodies but then it became a case of me waiting... waiting... 'When are they going to sing I Will Follow Him?' ... waiting... waiting....

At the intermission I said to JD "Gee, all the songs are different' and that's when she told that she had read in the paper that an entirely new score had been written for the stage version. Oh duuuuuhhh! That's not to say the music wasn't enjoyable. All throughout I kept thinking that some songs felt Al Green-ish and some very Disney-esque. I'm an unashamed fan of Disney so that did me no harm. My Disney ears must be well-tuned because I came home and searched for the wiki entry and found out that Alan Menken was indeed responsible for the score!

The lead actress performing the role of Doloris is the super-supercute Patina Miller. She had understudied the role in the US and was just pure excellence. If there's a single reason to watch Sister Act then Patina would be it. She's the only reason why I would watch it again or any other musical she featured in. She looked like she was having a ball. I want to be her friend!

I'll be honest, the show will definitely draw in a general crowd and be a commercial success but I felt there was something.... just... lacking. I can't put my finger on it. I've read a few negative reviews to see if someone else could identify what 'it' was but I haven't found such a review. Don't get me wrong, I did enjoy the show, but something just stops me from telling everyone I know to 'go see it! and stuff like 'it is sooooooo good'. In contrast I will tell everyone to see Jersey Boys and I will FORCE you to like it. Hahaha... I don't get that urge with Sister Act. Another reviewer found it 'hideously formulaic' and maybe that's it.

For those wanting a taste of the music, check out the official link but here are my personal highlights:

• Sweaty Eddie's solo - I Could Be That Guy. Dancing with the homeless men was a nice touch.
• TJ, Bones, & Dinero who are after Deloris - Lady in the Long Black Dress
• Deloris and the nuns - Take Me to Heaven
• Deloris - Fabulous, Baby!