Unfortunately, I had an evening meeting - which overran, of course - and there she was, waiting outside my building in the cold, me unable to text her because my phone was playing up (still is, in fact). Happily, she did actually wait, and when I finally emerged, we headed in the direction of the cinema. Casting my eyes around for somewhere to eat, I spotted an Indian up a side street. She agreed, and so we ended up in Chilli Shaker.
We were shown to a table by the window (naturally), and I ended up ordering my usuals. Well, I do love samosa, I do love butter chicken (or butter generally), I do love peshwari naan. Could maybe have skipped the rice - it's always a bit much, altogether. Mary is vegetarian, and chose a vegetarian mixed platter. A bottle of house white completed the meal. And you know, it was all delicious - perhaps not the cheapest, but decently priced for the area, and we left stuffed and happy.
And a little late. Coming into Piccadilly Circus, it was hard to figure out which street we needed - and with a number of road crossings to make, I lost her briefly. Eventually, with the aid of a helpful street map, we found Haymarket, and scuttled down the hill to the cinema. Which, helpfully, had a big sign overhead that read "CINEMA". She had email confirmations on her phone, which the usher scanned, and we trotted up the elaborate staircase to Screen 1. I haven't been here before, and have to say it's a really beautiful building. We were in time for the last of the trailers, and took our seats, near the front, in plush seats that were comfy enough, but for me, I lacked back support and was a bit sore by the time I left.
La La Land is a modern-day musical, very obviously created by people who love the genre and wanted to revive it. Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone play star-crossed lovers in LA, both chasing dreams of showbiz, who hit it off - but can they make it work? And can they fulfil their dreams?
As so often reported in reviews, it starts with a traffic jam that turns into a song and dance (literally). Remember, this is a musical, and people are prone to breaking into song at all sorts of moments. Honestly, for me it grated a little, just at the start, and I found myself thinking that Ryan Gosling was both a weak singer and simply not macho enough to carry the role of a musical leading man.
I changed my mind, though. As the film progressed, I really started to care about the characters. As someone remarked, there's only one hit song in the film - City of Stars: but you know what? It's a cracker, and it's actually not that easy to come up with hits. (There are actually a few good songs, but as they're not great singers, they're not the best ones to showcase them, and City of Stars is the only one that carries well.) Kudos to them for it. And when they stopped singing for a bit in the middle, I missed it! It's a beautifully sweet film, it has a bright and cheerful colour palette, a great deal of style, and I loved the alternative ending sequence near the end, which is pure fantasy. I'd like to see it again. They're predicting it'll sweep the board at the Oscars, as it did at the Golden Globes - I think the reviewer in the Evening Standard got it spot on when he said "It's a good film, but is it as good as the others nominated for Best Picture? That's a different question." Quite.
The walk home wasn't as cold as sometimes recently, and took me through Chinatown, in the run-up to their New Year:
..and a busy morning, complete with meetings, delayed the blog a bit. Anyway, tonight sees me at the Royal Society, for a talk on "Can our immune systems fight cancer?", a Meetup organised by the London European Club. And I can walk there, again.
Tomorrow, the Man with the Hat is taking London for Less Than a Tenner, is back at Top Secret. Love those nights!
On Thursday, I'm back with the Crick Crack Club at last, at the Art House Crouch End. First meeting of the year, and finally today advertised on Meetup! I saw it on their flier for Crouch End, and booked ages ago. Anyway, the title is Rebranding Beelzebub, which is certainly enough to get me there! And I now live closer to it than I did the last time I was there.
Back to Ireland at the weekend, and on Monday, I'm back with Funzing UK for Eat Zagi - an immersive dining & theatre experience. I had some fun booking it, when the bank thought it was a fraud and kindly stopped my card, so I had to ring them at 2am.. in the meantime, I did find a discount code, so it wasn't all bad. Try "EnjoyFunzing5". Actually, why not try "EnjoyFunzing10"? That's a code too. Anyway, again, I'm closer to this venue in Finsbury Park than I was before..
Next Tuesday, I'm headed for Sex with Strangers at Hampstead Theatre. First Meetup of the year with London Dramatic Arts. Dunno, I think it was that she had seats at both levels of the theatre, so it would've been too hard to avoid them..
Wednesday 1, the Man with the Hat is starting the month again. Let's Do London - for less! is off to the Opera House for La Traviata.
Thursday 2, he's taking both groups to Cadogan Hall for a concert involving the works of Brahms and Elgar, among others.
Friday 3 promises to be unusual.. the Crick Crack Club is hosting a late-night storytelling event at the Wellcome Collection. Mustn't forget to book tickets for the actual storytelling - they go on sale on Friday.
And finally, Saturday 4, I'm finally going to the much-advertised British Museum Tour - Ideas That Made our World. A Funzing event, as advertised by two of their Meetup groups - London Speaks Sessions and LDN Talks @ Night. So I booked with both..
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