Films: The Killer & Cat Person, Walk: Kultured Kensington, Film: Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, UL PhD Alumni Meeting, & Film: Pavarotti
Last Wednesday, film again - and what looked best was The Killer, a thriller with Michael Fassbender in the title role, also starring Tilda Swinton. How can you lose.. showing in the Curzon Aldgate. And yay, the website finally allows me to use my free credits! Just as well, considering I completely forgot I'd booked a midday showing - with a late night the night before, watching horror films, I slept so late that by the time I woke, it had already started! So much for that - ah well, I used another of my credits to book the evening showing instead. Just one left, now..
Looking for somewhere to eat nearby, I saw there was a Bar + Block! Well, I had a good experience at their Southwark branch, a while ago - so I figured that'd do nicely. Remembering that they'd insisted on reservations, I also figured I'd better book this branch. It's ever so slightly far away to walk - I'd have to bus it, and I arrived just in time.
This was something of a different experience from my other Bar + Block experience. The service was so appalling that I'll never be back. A huge queue was allowed to gather at the door, where we had to wait to be seated- no-one came to deal with us for several minutes.
Every single person ahead of me in the queue was turned away for not having a reservation (despite there being plenty of empty tables) - this is obviously a general requirement, and should be clearly stated, on the website and at the door. As I was telling the man about my reservation, an irate customer arrived to collect a menu, since, she said, she'd been waiting for so long. I decided to take one with me, just in case.
Just as well I did.. it was 20 minutes before anyone came to take my order. (Not a good sign, being stuck in a corner..) Things were taking so long at all the tables around me, I didn't dare order a starter - after all, I had somewhere to go afterwards. The waiter hadn't thought to bring me a wine list - I had to ask.
It was another 10 minutes before my wine came - the glass was wet, and dripped on me. I was never offered water. Another 10 minutes before my meal arrived. Which, at least, was gorgeous - delicious steak, a moreish red wine and mushroom sauce, which I used on the chips - the steak didn't need it.
Again, I didn't dare order a dessert- not after seeing how long it took the lady beside me to get hers! It took me 20 minutes more to catch someone's eye, and I had to shout after him for the bill. Even after I'd arrived early, I needed to go to the toilet, so still ended up being slightly late for what I was going to.
Arrived during the ads - I'd booked a seat well away from everyone else, but when I got in, someone was sitting in the seat beside mine. So I sat further down - it wasn't crowded. Had their moreish chocolate honeycomb bites, which stood in for dessert. Saw some interesting trailers..
Ah now, this is a clever film. Inside the mind of a killer - and a clever and competent one (we get to see how much when, quite understandably under the circumstances, he botches a job at the start of the film, and has to lay low, as his employers seek to tidy up the evidence - by removing him. Permanently.) Unlike other films of the sort, where the protagonist gets all sweaty and worried, our man is cool as a cucumber - we hear his reasoning throughout, as he prepares to act.
He's so organised, he wears a Fitbit to monitor his heartrate, which - as he tells us in the narrative - has to be below a certain level for him to function effectively. He has multiple identities, multiple IDs in different names - who knows what his real name is? He uses a dizzying array of technology. Yep, he's good at what he does - and the film is an engaging thriller, as he tries to get to the bottom of who's after him. Tilda Swinton turns out to be one of the hired guns who are after him - he tracks her down in a swanky New York restaurant, which is the only scene she's really in, and is quite educational - first time I found out what a flight of whiskies is!
Yep, very clever film - highly recommended. Only thing is, he listens to music to focus - and it would be The Smiths, my least favourite band!! Ugh. Pity, also, it lashed rain on the way home - I was feeling very sorry for myself! Couldn't blog that night - I had to be up early for yet another job interview. Which went well - but not so well that they aren't going to bother interviewing the other candidates, in the coming week..
On Thursday, it was film again - and, you know, it being the Day of the Dead in some traditions, I fancied something scary - even if only vaguely - again. Took me a while to scroll down my film list to find anything that was still on, and would qualify - I finally hit on Cat Person. This is based on a short story in The New Yorker (although I heard they changed the ending), and is a cautionary tale about a couple that meet online. He says he's a "cat person" - but she is to find out that he's not at all as he portrays himself.. Showing in the Odeon Covent Garden.
..which turned out to be around the corner from Seven Dials Market! Lovely, dinner sorted.. upon arriving, I glanced to my left, and saw "Stake Haus"! Apparently, they've just opened - they don't have an extensive menu, but I could have the steak sandwich - and I wanted to erase the bad memory of the steak restaurant of the night before. So I ordered one - almost didn't get it, the lady thought they were out of.. something. But it turned out they weren't. Handily, you can also get wine here - they give it to you at the same time as the food though, so I had to wait. Got a buzzer, as with all the food outlets here.
I got about the last table - it was some minutes before my meal was ready, and when I went to collect it, the guy said something, but I couldn't hear - it's quite noisy. Never mind.. I took it to the table, and got started. They have plenty of cutlery, including massive steak knives.. I hadn't asked them to leave out the gherkins, so spent a little bit of time taking them out - there were four slices, FYI. I ate with the knife and fork - it was too messy to use my hands. And it was gorgeous.. Delighted to have found the place. Recommended. And just like downstairs in the main food court, there is someone to clear away the trays once you've finished. (And cheaper, and faster, than Bar + Block..)
A short walk then to the cinema - where one of the ushers told me the screen wasn't ready yet. And I thought the concession stand didn't have wine, until I saw some.. so I had a glass while I waited. Then a different usher, with a curly moustache, came on, and let us go in. Just a few of us at first.. and then he arrived to clean the place. Swept around and left. Whereupon the house mouse appeared to clean up the leftovers. I think it left before the place filled up too much - I certainly didn't notice any screams..
Oh dear oh dear. I looked the story up afterwards to see what the film had changed - turns out, they hadn't so much changed it as just added an ending, which made the whole thing less ambiguous. Which people are complaining about. Well, I was so glad when that bit happened - because, up to then, all that had been going through my head was what narcissistic snowflakes the girl and her roommate were. Jeez - he says he's a cat person, you go round to his, you don't see any cats.. so he must be a serial killer?! Give me a break - grow up. Life is ambiguous. And she's complaining about how self-absorbed her mother is.. Oy.. so glad I don't have to hang out with these people.. Again, had to be up early, so couldn't blog.
On Friday, still gainfully unemployed, I was back with Laurence Summers and the 45+ Not Grumpy Old Londoners, for another new one of his - he was off to Kultured Kensington.. Had to take the Tube, to get out this far: handily, someone had scribbled the exit numbers on the map at the exits, so I knew where I was going. Huge group, for this new route. We met outside the Gate Cinema, so it was handy I'd been to the cinema so much lately, and could comment on at least the trailers.. and while we were waiting for latecomers, I nipped into the nearby Pret for an apple juice; I was parched!
After a brief word about how it used to be a brothel (!), we moved away slightly to talk about the Coronet. Which has a statue on top, apparently depicting someone painting the sky!
It's a scenic area:
Interesting neighbourhood:
Another notable local church is St. Mary Abbots, with the largest church spire in London:
And so on to Kensington Palace itself, whose first royal occupants were William and Mary (that statue is of him):
Queen Victoria was also born here, mind, and there's a statue of her, too - which we only saw from behind:
Final word from me about the walk is going to this plaque to a philosopher, John Stuart Mill, who espoused feminism, before its time:
Off, then, to The Greyhound for a welcome lunch. Mind you, they had some problems: not with seating us - there was plenty of space - but with serving the food. Seems two of the staff had called in sick, the chef was on his own, and everything was delayed - by the time one lady got her lunch (a toastie), the rest of us were long finished, and preparing to leave! As for mine - well, it's a Greene King pub, where I've so often had the pie - but I didn't feel up to it, and had the chicken. Which, interestingly, was fine - interestingly because the rest of the dish was incinerated! The sauce was burnt onto the dish, and the sides - onion rings and fries - were burnt and inedible. He actually offered me another, gratis - but I'd eaten enough by that stage that I wasn't hungry.
Around the corner then, to The Goat Tavern - where the excellent conversation, begun in The Greyhound, continued to the point that I damn near missed my flight.. I didn't want to leave, but dragged myself away, and had fun getting to my destination - I only got through security because the flight was, as ever, delayed. Managed to make the gate before they finished boarding.. didn't message my taxi driver until I was safely on the plane, and, exhausted, slept for almost all the flight..
Now, I'm back to Ireland for the weekend again. Last night's film on TV was a horror film (what, now?! a bit late for Hallowe'en..) - so I felt obliged to give it a shot. It was Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark. Turns out it's co-written and co-produced by Guillermo del Toro..
Yeah, I guess I can see his influence. As someone says in a review published on IMDB though, it's not quite an adult horror - it falls between that and a kids' tale. So, not what I'd call scary. However, the effects are excellent, as is the premise. Set in 1968 (so, no mobiles), it focuses on a group of local teenagers in a small town in America, who go into the local "haunted" house on Hallowe'en. It's famous for having had a crazy old lady living there, who used to whisper stories through the walls.
Well, the girl in the group finds the old lady's storybook and takes it with her, out of curiosity. Much in the vein of Pandora, she sets in train a series of dreadful events.. She discovers that much of the book is blank, then watches in horror as a story writes itself, seemingly in blood, on the next empty page, in front of her eyes. Even more horrifying, it mentions someone she knows.. in the story, he suffers an awful fate. IRL, he disappears - we know what's happened to him, though. Watch the film to discover the fates of the remaining kids, and how they overcome the evil. The stories are really inventive.. if only they'd been a bit - scarier..
Was too tired to blog last night. Today, I was absolutely intrigued by what's in the cinema - showing only in Ennis, it seems, is Dance First, a biography of Samuel Beckett, who as an older man is played by Gabriel Byrne, with Aiden Gillen as James Joyce, with whom he was apparently close, Bronagh Gallagher as Nora Joyce, and Maxine Peake as Beckett's mistress, Barbara Bray.
But then an old friend got in touch to ask whether I was coming to the PhD Alumni meeting today, in UL. I'd completely forgotten about it! I wasn't going to make the free lunch at that stage, but said I'd drop by later. Seemed a smaller affair than last year's - I joined the end of a round table discussion about communication among PhD students. But basically was in time to get some freebies!
Afterwards, my friend and I repaired, like last time, to the Kilmurry Lodge - where a sign asked us to wait to be seated. I had visions of a repeat of my last experience at Bar + Block - but no, I had no need to worry; by and large, service was quick. I had garlic mushrooms to start - yum, it's been too long! They've also branched out with their mains - I had the "chicken al Pepe" (in a white wine and mushroom sauce, with fries). Lovely, apart from the chicken being slightly burnt at the edges. When I found out they had lemon cheesecake on the dessert list, I decided to have that as well - gorgeous. Very well fed! We were entertained throughout by the antics of the folk either side of us, who all seemed to know each other, and were quite dressed-up.. as my friend pointed out (who's from Dublin himself), they also had Dublin accents. Must have been some event on..
Tonight's TV film was Pavarotti, a documentary. Which I watched mainly in the hope of seeing U2, with whom he collaborated on the track Miss Sarajevo, in aid of the children of the Bosnian War. I wasn't to be disappointed - Bono was interviewed, describing how Pavarotti befriended his housekeeper, who hassled him until he got the song written! But it's actually a really interesting documentary, about a man who seems to have been truly warm and caring. I really enjoyed it.
The week starts with a run of concerts! On Monday, back with CT, for a Winter Blues concert at Union Chapel.
Then I have a run of Meetups.. on Tuesday, back with the World Music Meetup (and TunedIn London), for the Omar Rios Trio, playing at St. Ethelburga's.
On Wednesday, back with the London Classical Music and Theatre Group, whom I haven't been with in weeks.. this is for the Handel opera, Jeptha, at the Opera House.
On Thursday, back with Up in the Cheap Seats - for the first time in over a month, very unusually for me and this group! This is for Phantasmagoria - yes, a horror play, again too late for Hallowe'en, tsk! Showing at Southwark Playhouse - so I've taken out another PAYG subscription (five tickets for £75, no expiry). Terrific value.
On Friday, back with London Hot 100: Socials, Music & Sport - for a meal at Franco Manca. Never actually been to this chain - had to happen eventually, I guess! Anyway, great group, and RSVPs are already closed.
And next Saturday, back with Laurence and the 45+s - this time for The Magic of Covent Garden: Secrets & Surprises. And Helen is coming to this one, good stuff!
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