blog
13 July 2008
According to his publisher, Oliver Jeffers loves plastic food, suitcase handles and Elvis, and has developed a bizarre habit of endlessly writing lists he never reads. The Northern Irish/Australian artist lives in New York and is the author of two amazing books.
8
May 2008
Guy Deslile's graphic novels are series of delicate observations and funny anecdotes on the life of a expat in Shenghen, Pyongyang and Burma. Excellent drawings and only a few words - these novels are great for the beach.
28 March 2008
16 March 2008
Barcelona-born designer Cristian Zuzunaga's pixelated fabric is simply stunning - a striking contemporary classic used on this Springfield sofa for Moroso.
17
February 2008
More urban art near you: New Yorkers Darius and Downey cross the Atlantic with their poetic transformations including "Madonna and Child", "The Kiss" and a strange tree.
FFFFound is a great internet find for image lovers. You can spend hours looking at the thousands of striking drawings and photographs bookmarked by other web readers.
And here's one by Rajesh Kumar Singh I found in an old magazine:
1 November 2007
Urban street art has been under the spotlight
since UK artist Banksy
managed to sell some of his stenciled rats to Brad Pitt. His artworks
usually include strategically placed black and white stencils located
on walls all over the world (including the Israeli wall). His latest is
an autoportrait/giant yellow flower in Bethnal Green, London.
Monsieur
A and Space
Invaders are two other top street artists. You can spot their
top hatted giant and alien mosaics on the streets of most capital cities.
Sculptor Anthony
Gormley, known for his Angel of the North and lone standing
figures, staged another urban invasion last summer around the Hayward
Gallery, London. His sculptures were placed on roofs and bridges around
the gallery.
Some artists are slightly more difficult to find. But keep your eyes peeled when you are in London, and you might find Slinkachu's little people left to fend for themselves in the capital...
... or Ben Wilson's tiny masterpieces, gloriously colourful on their chewing gum canvas.
October
2007
Andrew Clover, writer of the 'Dad Rules' column for the Sunday Times' Style magazine, proves that children always understand much more that we think.
I don’t
get girl magazines. I hate all that “you can’t have too many
shoes” stuff. I hate the coy use of the word “that”
– “that dress”, “that special person”. Reading
about famous people makes me feel depressed and inadequate and left out.
Unless they’re footballers, in which case I can read for hours and
hours.
And
I want to explain this to my four-year-old daughter. We’re in the
reception of the gym, waiting for the others to finish changing. She brings
an old Hello! magazine.
“I
will read this for you,” she says.
“I
don’t like it,” I say. “I only like reading stories.”
“But
this is a story,” she says.
She
opens on a picture of Coleen McLoughlin. “That is Cinderella,”
she says confidently. She points to Wayne Rooney. “And she loves
him, and he is the most fierce and fast soldier in the whole of the king’s
army.” I see her point. Rooney is Achilles. He’s the great
warrior, brooding in his tent. She sees Steven Gerrard. “And he
is a kind soldier. When the enemy are attacking, he gives everyone a cuddle.”
Gerrard is Hector the Kind, skilled at shooting from afar.
“If
that’s Cinderella, who are the ugly sisters?”
She
turns over, and points to a picture of Paris Hilton. “She is. And
also she is.” She points to Madonna. “And this,” she
says, smiling adoringly at a picture of David Beckham, “is the prince.
And he marries her” – she points to Posh Spice – “but
she is a wicked stepmother.”
“How
do you know she’s a wicked stepmother?”
“She
is orange and spiky, and she’s got jealous lips.”
“What
do jealous lips look like?”
“They
look like that.”
Then
she turns over to look at more pictures, finding more stepmothers. She
sees Cherie Blair. “Another stepmother.” She finds Nancy Dell’Olio.
“Definitely evil,” she pronounces. She sees Jade Goody. “And
she is a pig. But she has been turned into a person by a witch.”
“Who
is the witch?”
“Her.”
It’s
Amy Winehouse. I’m a big fan of Winehouse. I need to know. “Is
she a good witch or a bad witch?” She considers a long time. “Sometimes
good and sometimes bad.”
She
tells me the whole story, in which McLoughlin visits Winehouse and gets
a magic nut. She eats it and falls over. She ends up in goblin-land, with
Kate Moss and Pete Doherty and Russell Brand.
“If
I was in this story,” I ask, “who would I be? Am I a magician
who’s forgotten all his spells?”
“Noooo,”
she shouts. “You cannot be in this story. You are in a different
story. You are a daddy.”
“Oh,”
I say. “Right, okay, I think I understand.”
“Now
come on,” she says, getting out an old Elle. “Shall we read
this?”
23 August 2007
Remember, our planet is big - and diverse. Log on 6 billions others to listen to a chorus of global, ordinary voices. Thanks to this project by Yann Arthus Bertrand (Earth from above), you can hear dreams, fears or childhood memories that transcend continents and cultures.
16 June 2007
Back from Reykjavik, and still thinking about this wonderfully quirky city, the amazing lunar landscapes and the fantastic milky-blue pools... In one of the city's museum, I spotted this great coathanger by Katrin Pétursdottir and Michael Young:
And it reminded me of these three other great pieces of "natural" design: Russell Pinch's twig bench, Christophe Delcourt's oak shelf and Fredrikson Stallard's table:
London at rush hour might look like it is peopled with zombies and lunatics, but behind these masks of exhaustion hide human beings with hearts and all. I love reading the following columns and websites, just for the pleasure of imagining the scene. Just a few words suffice...
Time Out's "Thank You" files celebrate random acts of kindness committed in the capital:
'Thank you
to the White Van Man who drove all the way around a complicated roundabout
near Highgate to come back to the petrol station in its middle to tell
me I was about to drive off with the petrol cap on the roof."
The
man who fell asleep collects
quotes while travelling on the tube, and transforms them into brilliant,
surreal weekly snapshots of the capital:
1. I saw
Bill in the Masons. He's divorced or something.
2. There's too much hype about Harmison. At test level, he's a really
average bowler.
3. This is ridiculous. It's May. It's May and it's bloody freezing.
4. It's business and shit, innit.
5. You're not getting married are you? Really? Golly.
6. Terrible smell. Blocked drains.
7. Jago? Sounds a bit foreign. Sounds a bit like Dago.
8. Who was the bloke who went to the pole... Shackleton? The one who was
Kenneth Branagh.
9. Royals. They are the worst cigarettes ever.
10. It's like that whiney band. Not Radiohead. The band with Gwyneth Paltrow's
fella.
And the
Lovestruck
column in the free daily, the London Paper, is another beautiful list:
To that sexy man who sat opposite me on the way to Waterloo last saturday. You said your name was Guy. Please get in touch.
To the tall guy I met in Jongleurs, Battersea on 11 May from the girl with the blue jumper dress: let's have some more laughs, get in touch.
To the beautiful French girl with the Reebok trainers at Watford Junction 14 May. I was the big guy. I missed two trains because I really enjoyed talking to you. We talked about all sorts. Please call me, you have my number!
To the guy in the pink shirt and grey cardigan who got on at Streatham Common, Friday 11. I was late for work but had time to glance back... as did you!
To the gorgeous black guy at the bus stop in Finsbury Square. Our eyes met as you smiled at me. I was moody that day but would love to go for a drink. I'm the blonde girl on the 76 bus.
To the stunning redhead on Stoneleigh station with the wheelie case last Monday. You have the best smile! Drink?
To the lovely blonde I saw jogging in Highbury Fields on 12 May. You look like you are Polish. I'm Polish too. Let's meet up. P
On the Silverlink train - you were the kind Kiwi who didn't step on my dog. Your friend called you Scott. Hibiscus, my poodle, would like to meed you again to say thanks.
To the tall foppish Cambridge spy lookalike on the top deck of the 188. You were reading an architecture book. Want to discuss concrete with me sometime? Vintage Girl
To the girl that's always on my mind, you get on the 43 bus at City Road every morning. Fancy a drink?
You are the stunning strawberry blonde, who is a snappy dresser. I'm tall, dark and handsome. Our paths often cross on Onslow Square. Ah, unrequited love!
To the gorgeous olive skinned girl in the long black coat on the Shenfield to Liverpool Street train 7.45. I'm the girl in the red jacket. Fancy a drink sometime?
To the pretty girl with dark hair and black coat, who always lights up at Cannon St every morning from Medway. I would love to buy you a morning coffee.
19 May 2007
Read Zadie Smith's Letter to Liberia, recently published in The Observer Magazine. It's rare to find such an interesting, well-written piece on an African country.
In the last weeks I've discovered San Sebastian-Donostia in the Spanish Basque country and Mykonos, the Greek island famous for its beach parties.
San Sebastian is an elegant, quiet sea side resort
peppered with striking modern sculptures. The local artist Eduardo
Chillida's most famous work is the Wind Comb
sculpture, set on the rocky coast. A visit to his Chillida Leku museum,
just outside town, shows what an amazing graphic
artist he was. His sculptures, designs and drawings are just amazing.
21
April 2007
According to scientists at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Yurchi, there are 44 ways to build an Ikea wardrobe without the instructions. Only eight of these result in safe construction. Ikea hackers might read the instructions, but they can't help but put their own stamp on the ubiquitous Swedish designs. Go on, customise your Billys and Ivars!
Riga is a lovely city, a charming mix of Prague (for the Slave & communist influence) and Copenhagen (for the Scandinavian touch)...
17
March 2007
What
happens when thousands of different authors and editors work on the same
novel, at the same time?
A Million Penguins is
a Penguin and De Monfort University project using the same principle and
wiki programme as Wikipedia. The result is a strange online novel featuring
a monkey chief and full of links to essential concepts such as 'bananas'
or the 'Da Vinci Cod.' Nearly 1500 people have contributed to the writing
and editing of the novel, contributing over 11,000 edits making this,
in the words of Penguin’s Chief Executive, ‘not the most read,
but possibly the most written novel in history‘.
In search of more essential trivia? Head to I
did not know that yesterday to find out
what was the first thing sold on ebay or who invented sliced bread?
My recents trips include mysterious Palermo
and romantic Scotland...
4 February 2007
The Design Museum is currently exhibiting the works of prolific graphic designer Alan Fletcher. From business cards to calenders, posters to ashtrays, it's a great opportunity to discover the works of this typographic genius. The creator of the Reuters and V&A logo surprises with his simple, spontaneous-looking style.
Alan Fletcher
Also in the news...
New
fathers become as attached to their baby's prams as to their cars - often
holding races with other parents and cleaning their buggis every weekend,
research shows. Almost a third or men choose a pram because of special
features or for its handling, a survey found. More than one in four cleaned
their child's buggy every weekend and some even thought of adding a speedometer
to see how fast they could go, the poll of 350 men by Yellow pages revealed.
2 December 2006
On a recent trip to Denmark, I discovered a magic book by Peter Callesen in the Decorative Arts Museum's shop. The Copenhagen-based artist's favourite material is paper, but his works have nothing to do with the Japanese art of origami, or paper folding. He cuts and shapes the paper to create a magical world of castles, birds, flowers and mazes... An intriguing modern take on the traditional Danish Christmas decorations, usually formed of intricate paper cut-outs, including heart and candles shapes.
His work reminded me of Sue Lawty's simple little pebbles glued on a white background. No need for colour or expensive materials. The beauty here lies in the natural elements organised in geometrical patterns...
I've also added a few recent articles and pictures in my travel section...
22
September 2006
The best news of the month is that the supplement on India I had been working as an editor, travel writer and production manager for ages on is finally out (with the October issue of Food and Travel magazine) ...
I've also visited the Barbican for the first time,
killed some of my green plants and bought some new, eaten delicious colombian
food, spent the last week coughing and sneezing, have started a part-time
CELTA course to become a certified English teacher last Monday, gave my
first 15 minute class last Thursday...
Lucky me, I also made it to Paris and Cape
Town in the last months... and of course, to my second Nottinghill carnival.
22
July 2006
From Berlin, Dresden and Prague, via Gujarat, Greenwich park, Southend-on-Sea and the Swiss Alps, my summer is already full... And all the places I visited were amazing...
6 May 2006
An ordinary day in London...
5
May 2006
Finally, the Indypedia (and the maps) I have been working on for weeks!
Here's a little selection of Indypedia facts:
ACCIDENTS
ANNUAL INJURIES
(REQUIRING VISITS TO CASUALTY) INVOLVING SELECTED HOUSEHOLD ITEMS:
Bottle openers................................................................................................................185
Cardigans.........................................................................................................................964
Watering Cans ...............................................................................................................739
Trousers.......................................................................................................................5,310
Curtain pelmets...............................................................................................................123
Cake and scones.............................................................................................................493
Tea cosies..........................................................................................................................37
Vegetables ................................................................................................................14,149
COOKERY & COOKERY BOOKS
Number of
cookbooks owned in Britain: 171 million.
Number of cookbooks owned but never opened: 61 million.
Number of
recipes (in cookbooks) in average British household: more than
1,000.
Number of recipes attempted in average household: 35.
FLATPACK FURNITURE
It is estimated that up to 10% of Europeans are now conceived on Ikea beds.
PORRIDGE
Sales of porridge in the UK have increased by 85% in the past five years. In 2005 they were worth £85m.
TOOTH FAIRY,
THE
According o a 2006 study of British children for The Cartoon Network,
the Tooth Fairy pays out an average of £1.24 per
tooth.
WORDS, NEW
SELECTED NEW WORDS RECENTLY ADDED TO THE OXFORD DICTIONARY OF ENGLISH (REVISED SECOND EDITION)
bindas
(adjective; Indian, informal): carefree, fashionable and independent-minded.
boo (noun; US, informal): a person's
boyfriend or girlfriend.
cariad (noun; Welsh): darling;
sweetheart.
clueful (adjective; informal):
having knowledge or understanding of something; well informed.
dramedyo (noun) (plural: dramedies): a television
programme or film in which the comic elements derive mainly
from character and plot development.
mitumba (noun; eastern and central Africa):
second-hand clothing, especially that donated by aid agencies
in the West.
peedie (adjective; Scottish): little; small.
picturise (verb [with obj.]): adapt (a story
or screenplay) into a film.
yebo (exclamation; South African): used to show
agreement or approval; yes.
9 April 2006
Riverbend, a 25-year-old Iraqi woman who lives near a bend in the Tigris River in the north of Baghdad posts stories of her life and Baghdad news on her blog - when the electricity permits. Eight years spent studying in America gives Riverbend all the distance needed to try to make sense of the increasingly strange situation. It's amazing to hear the true voice of somebody who is "inside", and learn about the danger and frustations of living in Iraq...
“Baghdad is calm and relatively quiet if you don't count the frequent explosions. Actually, when we don't hear explosions, it gets a bit worrying. Hearing them is a relief and you can loosen up after they occur and hope that they'll be the last of the day…I watch television and it feels like I'm watching another country. All I can think is, ‘We've become one of those countries..."
...and of being a women in a newly liberated country:
“I feel like we've stepped back
50 years. Females in Iraq used to be a lot better off than females in
other parts of the Arab world (and some parts of the Western world- we
had equal salaries!). We made up over 50% of the working force. I am female
and Muslim. Before the occupation, I more or less dressed the way I wanted
to. I lived in jeans and cotton pants and comfortable shirts. A girl wearing
jeans risks being attacked, abducted or insulted by fundamentalists who
have been… liberated!
5
February 2006
I've spent most of the last five months in internship transit... I've been introduced to the unforgiving world of work experience and I'm not the only one: my friend Ruben wrote beautifully about our situation in his story for the Guardian Education website. I've become a serial intern starting back in October with The Observer, and then with Food and Travel Magazine, The Times, The Independent and Reuters. I've had enough for now, and I'm now temping at The Independent.
My new job is to collect facts, figures and statistic for a free supplement to be published in March. I am now an expert on useless facts taken out of their context and random anecdotes.
Here are two of them just for you:
>
Power cuts blacked out much of President Robert
Mugabe's state of the nation speech (6 December), in
which he promised to address Zimbabwe's chronic
electricity shortages.
>
There are 40 to 50 species of birds nesting in Paris
and more than 200 species regularly seen within the
capital.
Great story written by Paul Lewis for The
Guardian (04-02-06):
> Bottle Message Earns Rebuke
In the
spirit of transatlantic kinship a US coastguard captain with a fondness
for the British and a keen interest in his English ancestry sent a message
in a bottle last August, only for it to be returned from Dorset with a
note admonishing him for littering the oceans.
When Captain Harvey Bennett, 55, from Long Island, New York, received
a package last week he was understandably thrilled; his bottle had crossed
3,359.8 miles and landed in Poole.
But then the reply that accompanied his bottle, penned by a Henry Biggelsworth,
said:
"Dear 'captain' Bennett. I recently found your bottle while taking
a scenic walk on a beach by Poole Harbour. While you may consider this
some profound experiment on the path and speed of oceanic currents, I
have another name for it - litter."
"You Americans don't seem to be happy unless you are mucking
up about somewhere. If you wish to foul your own nest, all well and good.
But please refrain in the future from fouling mine."
Mr Bennett told the Guardian he feels Mr Biggelsworth's criticism
unjustified. "The letter seemed to say that Americans are all arseholes.
But there's nothing we can do about our politics - we're good people really."
19 September 2005
This Open house weekend was a great way to discover some of London's architectural treasures... We managed to see Leighton's home, a painter who was so passionate about Arabic culture that he recreated it in his living room with its 16th century tiles, the corporation of London's medieval Guildhall, and the new extension for the Parliament called Portcullis house. We managed to squeaze into an architect's private basement flat, with its Space odyssee decor, and we gazed at Westminster Hall's mediaeval ceiling. We also had a look at the beautiful curvy staircase in Rudolf Steiner's house, the weird italian restaurant set in an old victorian turkish bath, and the nice model of the city of London, used by the corporation for urban planning and investments.
30
August 2005
This
weekend, British police forces and the army showed a rather relaxed and
open-minded attitude while dealing with pink samba dancers and men dressed
as cherubs . While the policemen tried a few dancehall moves at the Notting
Hill Carnival, the Royal Air Force came out in style at the Manchester
Pride. Gay and lesbian soldiers in combat trousers and tight T-shirts
danced on a giant cockpit and launched a recruitment stall aimed at tempting
more gays, lesbians, transvestites and even transsexuals into the ranks.
Imagine the drastic progress they have made, when only 5 years ago the
recruitement of non-heterosexuals was not permitted by the army.
Notting
Hill Carnival and
Manchester
Pride
However,
not every aspect of British society has evolved that quickly. While most
of the legal system follows medieval traditions and structure, judges
have proved on numerous occasions that its not only their wigs that are
dusty and old-fashioned. This Sunday Times article shows how some of them
are actually alien to the 21st century:
"A senior judge used to dealing with complicated criminal
and immigration trials has been bamboozled by the vocabulary of a typical
family home. Judge Seddon Cripps interrupted a fraud trial last week in
St Albans, Hertfordshire, to ask what a sofa bed was. When a witness replied
with a brief description, Cripps, who lists “walking slowly”
as his hobby in Who’s Who, replied: “How can a bed be turned
into a sofa?” Amid titters from barristers and jurors, the witness
had to spend several minutes explaining how some sofas can be folded out
to form makeshift beds. The judge had earlier told the court he was unfamiliar
with the word “futon”, the thin mattress of Japanese origin
popular in Britain since the 1980s."
"Cripps, 63, joins a long list of judges whose ignorance of popular culture has reinforced the judiciary’s reputation for being out of touch. They include Lord Irvine, the former Lord Chancellor, who surprised a parliamentary committee in 1998 when he appeared not to have heard of B&Q, the DIY chain. Other judges who have shown their lack of grasp of contemporary culture include Judge Hubert Dunn, who told a court in 2001 he had never heard of Pele, the Brazilian footballer. Two years earlier Judge Francis Aglionby asked what a Teletubby was. In 1998, Mr Justice Popplewell failed to grasp the meaning of the “lunchbox” of Linford Christie, the Lycra-clad athlete. The department of constitutional affairs has recently announced a programme to try to broaden the social mix of Britain’s judges beyond its traditional dominance by public school men from Oxbridge."
26
August 2005
The Royal Mail is launching a new series of stamps, "Changing Tastes Stamps." They are supposed to reprent the new British tastes for food, and Catell Ronca, a Swiss Royal College of Art student author of the beautiful illustrations, says she was inspired by local markets and restaurants. I think they are a perfect portrait of Londoners at lunch time. On the London streets, you're always hungry: so many different restaurants everywhere, always some street seller frying onions for the hamburgers, and millions of people eating all the time. Fish and chips, sushi, tea and italian food are favourites, definitely! But I'm not so sure about the bowl of fresh fruits... I think a packet of crisps would have been more realistic!
mCatell
Ronca- 11
July 2005
Everybody was calm, helping each other to find their ways. The city had become completely pedestrian, and it was a surreal feeling to walk all the way from Tottenham Court road to Angel with thousands of people crowding the same pavement.
Werenotafraid.com
- Martin Wolf, Financial Times columnist, describes London perfectly:
- "It
is both a collection of villages and a metropolis. It is the home of
Shakespeare’s theatre, the cradle of representative democracy
and among the world’s greatest commercial centres. I love it for
its tolerance, diversity and vitality. It is cosmopolitanism incarnate.
This is the city that defied the Nazis. For absolutists of all kinds,
London is the symbol of everything they hate."
29 March 2005
You can find woods and meadows right in the middle of London. Green Park, between Picadilly and Buckingham Palace, is the perfect place to enjoy a very British tradition, the Welsh daffodils carpet. Each spring millions of white and yellow flowers blossom around Britain. In every park, under the trees, in every front garden, and even in small windox boxes... we need millions of them to forget about winter.
According to a London guide, Green park's name comes from the fact that it was once totally deprived of flowers. When one Queen discovered her husband had fallen into the habit of picking up the park's flowers to give to his mistresses (he had his secret rendez-vous in the park, just in front of the palace), she ordered all the flowers to be cut! And the park remained without flowers for centuries...
18 March 2005
Entering Bloomberg's City Gate office is like stepping aboard an alien spaceship. The sterile office life is complimented by financial news dripping from every screens, and present even in the lifts. TV studios were the anchormen just have to press a button to be on air, a "kitchen" near the entrance where everybody can help themselves to all the food and drinks they want. Everything is perfect, bright colors everywhere.
But the only thing I liked about this place is the building itself, designed by Norman Foster. The rest was just a perfect artificial little world. They all seem very proud of their giant aquariums - no wonder when they are nothing more than these beautiful colourful fish, the big ones eating the small ones, and all of them imprisoned in their nice looking tank.
In order to find the Odeon in the Swiss Center, Leicester Square, you have to climb stairs that look like stairs in any suburbian block apartment in the world. And when you reach the cinema, stuck in the Seventies, with bright orange and blue walls and curvy hallways, it looks like someone transformed his flat into a home cinema. It was the perfect place to watch "Temporada de Platos", a black and white mexican movie ... set in a seventies apartment block. "Duck Season" is about a lounge, two boys playing video games and drinking coke, a pizza delivery guy, and a gatercrasher baking girl. It is also about boredom, sexuality, friendship, divorce, and space cake. What else could you ask from a mexican comedy?
2 March 2005
Celebrity
chef Jamie Oliver is trying to change junk food eating habits of school
children. He had to dress up as a giant corn and make them sing "it's
nice to try something new" and throw their lunch boxes away in order
to make them eat a normal meal of chicken, salad, pasta and tomato sauce
with 7 vegetables.
But what was even more shocking than the disgusting things English school kids eat everyday, is the total ignorance of the parents. Jamie sends one mum shopping, and on her list is basil. "I've never bought basil before, I don't know where it is," she says. And when she finds it: "You can't do much with it, it's just leaves." And a few seconds later, picking up an avocado that was on the shopping list: "I've never eaten one of those before."
After children had tasted Jamie's new menu, one eleven year old boy comes to him and says he had several helpings of salad: "I've never had salad before." Bon appétit!
20 February 2005- Victorian England was completely addicted to opium! The drug culture was everywhere, as opium was as widely available as tobacco is today. Matthew Sweet's wonderful "Inventing the Victorians" (Faber & Faber 2001) explains how the white poppies still growing in the fields of Somerset, Dorset and Surrey were planted to produced the nation's favourite drug. Harrod's even sold packets of heroin...
"For the Victorians, opium was the opium of the people. Agricultural workers popped pills as they worked in the fields. Teething babies were dosed with a mixture of opium and black treacle, in preparations sold under proprietary names such as Godfrey's Cordial and Mother Bailey's Quieting Syrup. Some brewers and publicans spiked their beers with opium, many more of their patrons whooped up their pints with a pennyworth of poppy-powder bought from the chemist. Bored sub-urbanites inhaled a cocktail of opium and alcohol from their handkerchief. The chronically il used it as a palliative pain-killer, the hungry as an appetite-suppressant and Mrs Isabella Beeton advised all sensible housholders to keep their kitchen cupboards well stocked with the drud in both powdered and liquid form." [97]
Although they were high on opium almost everyday, Victorians were afraid of the negative effects of green tea: drinking it was seen as a health threat! However they enjoyed eating curry so much that the first Indian restaurant, the Hindostanee Coffee House, opened in 1809 - fifty years before the first fish and chip shop started business!
19 February 2005
Vera helps poor girls to abort every Friday at 5, just before she has to go home to cook tea for her family. Set in the 50's, the movie's lights and moods are perfect, and the actors even better. It is worth seing just to discover Imelda Stauton (one of Emma Thomson's best friend) who has just become my favourite actress. "Vera Drake", directed by Mike Leigh ("Secrets and Lies"), Golden Lion, Venice Film Festival 2004.
Imelda
Stauton
13 February 2005
The lions had to share Trafalgar square with a couple of dragons, and even more tourists - although the strangest thing of all was the Army recruiting bus - because Chinatown was organising a Chinese New Year with typically bad popular chinese music but lots of red lampions.
Waiting at London Bridge Station for bus N. 43, I noticed the driver had a rather strange behavior and a peculiar way of spending his break time. After checking his timetable and the signs in front of the bus, he climbed back in and put a carpet on the floor of the bus, on which he stand and kneeled. A few minutes later he threw the carpet back where it belong: folded behind the giant windscreen of one of London's new double deckers! At least we knew our bus was blessed!
- 3
February 2005
Today I heard Nelson Mandela, and a few others on Trafalgar Square, speaking for the Make Poverty History campain and appealing the G7 leaders [held in London this weekend] to make a concrete commitment against poverty.
Mandela said: "The Global Campaign for Action Against Poverty can take its place as a public movement alongside the movement to abolish slavery and the international solidarity against apartheid." "But in this new century, millions of people in the world's poorest countries remain imprisoned, enslaved, and in chains. They are trapped in the prison of poverty. It is time to set them free." Another south african activist, Kumi Naidoo, gave a passionate speech and reminded us that Africa is not a poor continent, and that this is not about charity but justice.
oxfam
campaign &
economist
article
2
February 2005
The Royal Albert
Hall is really a beautiful building, a much nicer and totally round
version of the Victoria Hall in Geneva... The Cirque du Soleil show
called Dralion, with medieval-chinese-four-elemental-italian influence,
was really good, almost too perfect. A part from one ball that escaped
from the juggler's hand... He was actually juggling with is entire body,
with his feet and his spine, and it looked like a futuristic dance...
