Film: Star Wars - The Force Awakens

Let's see now.. what day did all this happen? Ah yes, Tuesday, eh? Lordy, what a week..

Well, Tuesday was the day of our freebie Christmas team lunch, in the local Thai. We were told how much the budget extended to each of us (alcohol excepted), and given the low prices here, it was really difficult to use it up! Not that we didn't do our best.. we were seated at the high table in the middle again, with high stools that can be awkward to push right into the table. Our generous budget meant we all had starters, for once (represented as "sides" on the menu), and I can recommend their chicken satay. For main, I couldn't for the life of me remember what I'd had before that I'd found so tasty. I did remember it was somewhere near the pad choy though, on the menu - and sure enough, it turned out to be the pad see-ieuw, right below it. Which was, again, very moreish - I do love my soy sauce. A dish of lollipops finished out a very satisfying meal - and someone suggested that next Christmas, those of us based in London should schedule another Christmas meal, in London. Yes please - whatever this forced office move brings, we in the London office are a good team, and Christmas is a good time to remember what we had.

That evening, we went for a last drinks session, joined by whatever ex-colleagues were around. Sadly, I had to duck out early - just before this drinks session was scheduled, I'd booked to see Star Wars: The Force Awakens. And before that, I had to take a bag back to the new flat, where I stayed that night. I timed it well - made my way to the new flat, then caught a bus just up the road to the Clapham Picturehouse, in fairly unpleasant weather. I made the cinema about five minutes after the scheduled start time. I was a bit perplexed at first, unable to see the screen I wanted - turned out it was behind me, up stairs specially decorated in a Star Wars theme. In the screen, unfortunately it turned out my seat was right by the wall, on the inside, which meant I had to disturb a whole row of people.. the screen was already pretty full; people don't show up late for this!

Now, this was a 2D showing, which probably contributed to me getting to see it as quickly as I did. 3D hurts my eyes, to be honest, and I usually find it gimmicky. Mind you, the projection screen was a bit smaller than I'd have liked - but didn't make a huge difference to my enjoyment of the film, I think.

Right! Welcome to The Movie Event of the Year! I was delighted when this came out so highly rated (on IMDB) - and it still is, despite having fallen slightly. In the chronology of Star Wars, it's Episode VII - taking place some 30 years after the end of the original trilogy. To that end, the director - JJ Abrams, a self-confessed Star Wars fan - has brought back the Millennium Falcon, and the original trio of stars - Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill. And Peter Mayhew, Anthony Daniels, and Kenny Baker. They all pretty much just have cameos though - the main action is left to the newbies. Domhnall Gleeson also appears, as a commander with the First Order - the new name for the Galactic Empire.

Is it any good? Yes, it's good - he's a great action director, and has great fun with the action sequences. That's.. kind of it, though! I'm a huge fan of the original trilogy - but you know, although that had action sequences, there was always something else to them: a sweeping score, a mystical, disembodied voice, a sense of purpose. Here, although each mission has a purpose, it's mostly about the big explosions - which is fine if you like that sort of thing, but I found myself shifting in my seat quite a bit, and wondering when it was going to be over. As for bringing back the original actors? It's kind of nice, but so throwaway that it's almost insulting. Mark Hamill doesn't get to utter a single line - I can just hope they make more use of him in the sequels. As for Carrie Fisher - o lordy, she mumbles so much I can hardly understand a word she says! Upon inspection, this seems to be because she's not moving her upper lip. Not a great ad for Botox.

They are basically on a mission to find Luke Skywalker, who's done a runner, it seems - and it's not a huge spoiler to say that they do find him, right at the end. He's stood at the top of a cliff, looking all mysterious and monkish in his cloak - and the Skelligs have never looked better; kudos to them for the sweeping helicopter shots, that must've involved some tricky flying. And there's just enough in it to make me anticipate the sequel. But it isn't anywhere near as good as its rating. Unless big explosions turn you on. Don't believe the hype.

Well, that night ran late, and with the last of the moving, plus clearing out my desk, plus catching a flight, yesterday was manic. The string quartet at Heathrow was a nice touch. But by the time I got to bed last night, I was far too tired to blog. And today's post has depended on a very erratic internet connection. But you know, all's well that ends well.

And now I'm back in Ireland until the 6th January. With pretty much nothing happening. Fortunately, the telly is decent - especially with the torrential rain. Next scheduled event is on the 7th, when I'm back with Let's Do London - for less!, who are headed to the opera version of Eugene Onegin, at the Opera House. Last performance, apparently.. and do you know, the first week of last January, I was also at the Opera House - for a ballet version of the same story! Fancy that. And I've also booked for the comedian, Stewart Lee, in the Leicester Square Theatre on the 8th. Anyway, I'll be working from home on the 7th and 8th, which will be handy for getting organised.

Oh, and Merry Christmas to all! Talk soon..

Eat Aroi Thai & Burlesque: Straight Up

Yesterday afternoon, we had a leaving lunch for a colleague who'll be greatly missed. I guess it was her choice to eat at Eat Aroi Thai, a few minutes' walk from the office. Anyhoo, she booked and off we headed, stopping at a cashpoint on the way, because they only take cash. We were seated, as usual, at the high table in the middle, with the slightly awkward high stools. They'd set out a cosy 15 places, but someone had forgotten the ex-colleague that was joining us, making 16: no problem, they produced another high stool from the back, and he squeezed in at the end.

A number of the group had never been there before, and amidst the confusion over what to order, and the lack of familiarity with the dishes, there was hilarity over the drinks panel - black print on a black background. Also over the ordering system, where you grab a server as soon as possible, they take your order, it's cooked immediately, and quite possibly served to you while others are still waiting to order.

Anyway, I ordered some very refreshing lemonade - which comes served with ice and a mint leaf. For food, well, I've been here twice before and it wasn't very successful - their Massaman curry ("voted tastiest") and their pad thai I found a bit bland. However, this time I looked just under the pad thai, to find a dish called pad see-iew, which sounded ok. So I ordered that.. good choice! It was a succulent dish of chicken, fried egg, and flat noodles in soy sauce - and it was delicious. Definitely my new favourite. Afterwards, they produced dishes of complementary lollipops - how long is it since I had one of those? And after the little ceremony of giving each of us a little dish with the bill, collecting them with the cash, and returning them with the change, we left.

For last night, I got a nice discount from Time Out for the House of Burlesque production, Straight Up, in the Spiegeltent, as part of London Wonderground - a £16 ticket (£16.50 with booking fee) for £10. Also good was that it started late, so I had time to have a proper dinner. And it felt strange, leaving the house after dark - kinda spooky. Well, it's been a while!

Unfortunately, I just missed a direct train at West Brompton, and had to wait about five minutes for another, then change at Earl's Court. Another five-minute wait, a train arrived, and we got on. And waited. A train arrived at the other platform, headed the same way. Ooh, I hate that.. sure enough, that one left first, and ours waited another five minutes after this before trundling on its way. Sometimes the drivers are good enough to point out that the other train will be leaving first - not ours last night, though.. Nope, Earl's Court is not a good place to be if you're in a hurry!

I panted my way across the bridge - out of practice, y'see: paused very briefly to admire the spectacular view - and made the box office with five minutes to spare. Exchanged my emailed, printed voucher for a ticket, and followed the signs to the Spiegeltent. Well, to the queue for the Spiegeltent, which stretched out around the corner and under the bridge. This tent has a great capacity, and it was a long queue.. it was raining on us, slightly, by the time we got in.

It was quite full, but not completely sold out. We with the cheap tickets were prohibited from the front two rows, but they were full anyway - I ended up in the back, but there are only four or five rows here. I was to the side, but you nearly get a better view from there. So I was ok with my seat.

So! Another burlesque show! They started in darkness, with costumes and hoops decorated with leds. Very high-tech vibe, and a bit naff, in my opinion. After that, a procession of acts invented new and artistic ways of taking their clothes off - well, down to the standard thong and nipple covers. Quite professional, but a bit samey, except for the one (ripped) male performer, who, for variety, started with practically nothing and put his clothes on! I did like how not all the girls were stick insects - a couple were pretty but chubby, or what would commonly be known among silly people as "obese".

During the interval, the mc encouraged us to tweet her the craziest things we'd done while drunk, the best tweet to receive a bottle of Beefeater gin (the sponsors). The theme of the show is drink, you see. In the second act, the quality of the acts noticeably improved - there was a story to some, an acrobatic act with a hoop, and a really well conceived, artistic performance, with a girl in a skintight, nude, sparkly costume, cavorting on a hoop in front of a machine blowing bubbles. Very reminiscent of champagne. I particularly liked the bit where they held up a sign reading "BEACH BODY READY" and geefully ripped it to pieces. It's tough, this business, you know - on the way out (when it had, mercifully, stopped raining), we passed so many posters for other burlesque shows currently running. This is a quality act, and I wish them well. Just three more shows - the next two Thursdays, and Thursday 24th September. Worth a look.

Tonight, I'm back to Ireland for the weekend, and we're headed to the Irish Youth Wind Ensemble, tomorrow at the University Concert Hall. On Monday, I'm finally going to see Memphis: the Musical, at the Shaftesbury Theatre. And the next two days, I'm headed to the Guildford office - first for a meeting, then the Sports Day. Coincides nicely with the next Tube strikes, assuming the current talks don't help.. On Thursday, I've booked a ticket to see the comedian Iliza Schlesinger at the Soho Theatre - she was sold out for Monday, so I said maybe I'd better. And that Friday, I'm headed to the Boat Show. Those should both be interesting to get to and from, if the strikes go ahead!

The following Saturday, I'm back with the London Dramatic Arts group, for Oresteia at Trafalgar Studios - its West End transfer. (I see it's at the Globe as well - bummer, that'd have been good.) On the Sunday, I'm headed to the Scoop, for their double bill of classical plays. Technically, I'm accompanying the Free London Events and Talks group, but with 100 of us going, I doubt I'll be much bothered with actually meeting anyone. Unless I see someone I know.

I'm finishing off the month by going to the Proms, and on the 1st September I'm going to What's It All About? Bacharach, at the Menier Chocolate Factory. And then there's more..

Film: The Man Who Saved the World

Someone in the office has a birthday at the weekend, so we celebrated early, with lunch at Eat Aroi Thai. I had no idea where it was, so followed the crowd, and it turned out to be not that far from the office. And we were sat at the high, large central table. Décor is quite sparse - grey walls, bamboo lampshades: as someone remarked, advertising street food means they can get away with that.

They have an odd way of dealing with large groups - they took our orders individually, started preparing them immediately, and brought them individually, as soon as they were ready. Which meant that some of us were eating before others had even ordered! Anyway, I couldn't resist the Massaman lamb, which was advertised as "rated the world's tastiest curry". Well, it was nice, but I wouldn't describe it as exceptional. The lemonade I had with it was very refreshing though - a better choice than the chrysanthemum juice that someone else had, which she described as "weird". Someone in the group who's allergic to MSG had checked in advance, and been told that they don't use it - but when her dish arrived, she didn't have time to taste it before the server took it back, to be replaced with one that was DEFINITELY safe. At the end, individual bills were brought in little, individual dishes, in which our change was also returned.

I took myself off to the cinema tonight - and top of the list was The Man Who Saved the World, a documentary about the Soviet officer who refused to give the counterattack order when the missile detection system malfunctioned and told them that they were under attack. Showing only at the Curzon Bloomsbury, which used to be the Renoir, and whose Bertha Dochouse is, as advertised, the only screen in London entirely dedicated to documentaries.

It's a long time since I've been there, although I remembered it was quick and easy to get to from Russell Square. I did check, just to be sure - turn right when you leave the station, cross the road and head up the steps. I vaguely remembered that the cinema is to the right on the upper level, but Streetview didn't extend that far.

I spent a bit too much time playing Yatzy for Windows, and arrived a little late. But the great thing about (regular) cinemas is they don't mind that. I was a bit confused when I arrived at that upper level - as I say, it's been a while and a lot of new shops have cropped up to confuse the landscape. But as you go further along, there's a helpful signpost - still to the Renoir - pointing to the right.

I bought my ticket and followed the steps down to the basement, passing a second bar on the way (there's one at the entrance too). I do wonder whether they're planning to carpet the stairs - it looks as though a stair carpet has been removed, and they look a little bare. Anyway, when you finally get to the basement, it's all subdued lighting, yet another bar, and tv screens. Plenty of mixing areas here. I wasn't sure of my directions from here - they've changed the layout a bit, and I think added some screens - so it helps to know to go to the left, follow the corridor to the end and it's up a short flight of steps. As the girl who tore my ticket told me.

It had just started when I got there. I debated about where to sit - it was pretty full - and finally decided the front row wasn't too close to the screen, and had the advantage that I didn't have to push past anyone. I took a free seat at the end - and got a pleasant surprise when the seat adjusted its angle to whatever position I wanted to sit in! So they've installed Pullman seats here now, as in the other Curzons. Lovely - and the Dochouse is cheaper than regular Curzon prices, so this is the cheapest way to get this luxury. All I needed now was something to put my feet up on.

It's a fascinating film, focusing quite intimately on the man at the centre of the story. We see his trip to America, where he receives an award at the UN, and visits Robert de Niro and Matt Damon - and Kevin Costner, who invites him to come visit. The entire film, however, is interspersed with reconstructions of his past. Most of the reconstructions, of course, concentrate on the pivotal events of that night, when he had to decide whether to retaliate against an apparent, deadly threat. This works really well for the film, as we get to relive dramatic scenes from the Cold War, including tv footage of Reagan mouthing off, and Soviet troops marching. Wow, those were serious times - brings back some memories.

Anyhoo, I'd noticed a podium in front of the screen, with a laptop on it - and a mic on the floor beside it. Sure enough, after the film (stay for the credits, they include more footage), a couple of DocHouse staff came down and desperately tried to get Skype to work on the laptop. It wouldn't log them in, of course. Finally it did, and they called the film's producer for a very interesting Q+A. As he remarked, they really should have made a film about the making of the film, there were so many issues. And as he spoke, the background spun quite mesmerizingly behind him - he must have been holding the laptop and turning around in a circle! As the Dochouse person remarked at the end, it was the most mobile Skype conversation she'd been a part of.

On my way back, it was a good thing I knew where the station was, because the sign wasn't lit. Neither was the platform indicator working. But a train arrived eventually, and I got home. In other news, one of our ex-colleagues was at lunch who's also a member of Hard Façade - and had finally brought the tickets with him! So I got my ticket for their gig tomorrow night at Surya. 'Bout time they played on a night I can go!