A co-worker who was at the festival the week before me told me I had to go and see the Circus of Horrors. I don’t know whether to be relieved or disappointed that I didn’t go:
A dwarf performer at the Edinburgh fringe festival had to be rushed to hospital after his penis got stuck to [...]
You know you’ve been to the Edinburgh festival too often when: Walking down the Grassmarket, you hear an atonal, arrhythmic, percussive cacophony start up. Instinctively looking around for the inevitable body-painted, dreadlocked, slightly-whiffy tribal drum band, you are confused when the street seems entirely devoid of buskers of any sort.
This confusion lasts for a few [...]
I’ve just got back from seeing Alegria by Cirque du Soleil, and as amazing and as wonderful and as “I’m going to see it again before the end of the run” as it was, my main thoughts throughout the show were along the lines of:
Human spines aren’t meant to do that.
If I tried that, I’d [...]
Ah, yes. ‘Tis the season for office party planning. Not for the party itself, you understand, but for the brave organising souls to inform the rest of the office when/where the party is, what will occur therein, and how many wheelbarrows will be laid on to remove the bodies at the end of the night.
The [...]
As fun as being in the nosebleed galleries at the top of the Albert Hall during a Flaming Lips show was, it turns out it can’t really compare to seeing them whilst jammed into the second row at the Hammersmith Apollo. Having a crazy-haired man in a 70’s suit crawling above your head in [...]
This is the final communiqué from London Branch. When next you tune in, the broadcast will be coming from a new top-secret underground bunker in deepest, darkest Surrey. Normal service shall be resumed shortly.
Toodle-pip!
On my way home today, the bus I was on took about 3 times longer than normal due to a huge detour, with several roads shut off and police everywhere. It was impossible to see what was going on at the time, but once I got back I found out it was due to a [...]
Sheer laziness made me put off writing this for so long, but for completeness’ sake (and because in years to come I’ll probably want to know what I actually went to see) I present the last bits of my 2 weeks at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
Celeb Spotting: Alan Davies, and a very, very depressed looking [...]
Celeb Spotting: Kevin Smith, Charlize Theron (sortof: there was a big crush of people outside of the cinema as we left, we saw some people walking down the red carpet and many photographers elbowing each other out of the way. We mostly ignored it and went into the pub next door. Shortly afterwards two of [...]
Celebrity Spotting: Not totally sure about this, but I think I saw Doris Lessing at the book festival site in Charlotte Square. This celeb-spotting business is getting less appealing by the minute.
Show: Bill Bailey - Steampunk
This goes to the top of the list for this year so far. I’ve seen him quite a few times [...]
Celebrity Spotting: Les Dennis and Steve Punt. Disappointing! Does not quite match up to seeing Summer Glau last year.
Show: Chanbara
Taiko drumming plus katanas from the choreographers of Kill Bill. Sadly, it was pretty disappointing. The drumming was good but it took a backseat to all of the jumping and sword-swiping (and unfortunate slapstick interludes.) It [...]
Man Pocky
Originally uploaded by FeralChicken.
At the risk of turning this into “Too-Hot-Here Blog,” the weather has been taunting me today. After a week of lovely overcast 16-18 degC weather, today has been back to tarmac-melting, brain-oozing, sweaty-zombie heat. Luckily I’m now well skilled in the art of spending 40 minutes selecting a pint of milk [...]
For a band whose albums I love so much, Animal Collective are a surprisingly dreech live proposition.
Picture a man alternately yodeling and screaming through a flanger and reverb unit, backed up by another man making baby-noises through a differently timed reverb unit, accompanied by drums and by someone manipulating keyboards/synths/mixers in accordance with the instructions [...]
Last night I went off to see the Dresden Dolls again (for the 3rd - or technically 4th - time.) The quick summary is that they were fantastic. Again. They always put on such a incredibly extravagant show; for two people who spend most of their show behind entirely immobile instruments - drums and piano [...]
Royal de Luxe’s weekend-long production of ‘The Sultan’s Elephant’ wrapped up central London today. The idea is that it’s a performance art piece commemorating the 100th anniversary of Jules Verne’s death, and loosely follows the plot of one of his stories, involving a Sultan seeing visions of a time-travelling girl who’d been transformed into a [...]