Not the Adventures of Moleman
What does the cow say? Well, as any one knows who grew up on the Canadian prairies with nothing to do but either push over sleeping cows or make love to them, it’s not so much what they say as the startled/sexy look in their eyes that communicates in volumes. Not the Adventures of Moleman leaps and jumps frenetically between sketches, which don’t so much recur as organically grow into each other. Cheerful desperation rarely works, yet Moleman pull it off spectacularly. Arron Ferguson, his head so square he makes Daniel Radcliffe’s look like a rectangle, and Richard Murray, who is naked throughout all but the majority of the show, have created something more like comedy jazz. Even when their sketches don’t work, which is only occasionally, there is still a pretty damn rich seam of possibility in their premises. I have a feeling I might have been seeing something which goes on to greatness. They are both still quite young, somewhere between 20 and 11. I can say with confidence Murray has not yet grown pubic hair. Or perhaps he is just that much of a professional already and is employing the services of a nether-coif stylist. In any case, I can definitely say that if this show plays elsewhere I would happily pay to see it. My only complaint is that the third and fourth performers, known vaguely as Page and Wally, got absolutely so mention or credit in the programme, on their website, or in my subsequent dreams of cows.
24 Aug 2011
Beings
Butoh is a form of dance requiring absolute control. It can move quite quickly, but often, more usually, moves at a snail’s pace, the body creeping in slow motion across a room, or through a complex series of movements.
24 Aug 2011
Taniwha Thames
It’s not that you can never return home. It’s that when you return you have become somebody else. Shaky Isles director stressed that Tanwha Thames is still very much in its creation phase.
24 Aug 2011
Limbo
“Oh dear,” the little old lady says to Michael as she relentlessly knits a shapeless yellow thing out of an infinite pile of yarn. “You’re not taking this very well.”
24 Aug 2011
Ken's Jubilee Line campaign goes off the rails
London’s politicians want a sparkling new transport network – except when they can make a political point out of it, it seems.
Ken Livingstone’s campaign has launched a petition demanding Boris Johnson halt weekend closures on the Jubilee Line – despite the mayor implying there would be no more shutdowns once the long-delayed upgrade of the line was completed.
Stations on the northern end of the line – including Ken’s local stop at Willesden Green – will face three closures this autumn. The rest of the line, through central, south and east London – the areas worst-hit by the Jubilee’s earlier closures – will be unaffected.
This is down to works on the adjacent Metropolitan Line, now getting its own upgrade and a fleet of brand new train. As any Tube geek will tell you, the northern end of the Jubilee was originally a branch of the Metropolitan, and the two are still connected.
You can see for yourself in the picture above, taken from a Jubilee Line driver’s cab. The Metropolitan Line is just inches to the left. Fancy working on that when the Jubilee Line’s still running?
So one can’t be closed without closing the other. It’s a pain in the backside, but a sad fact of life, and one that north-west London Tube users are probably used to.
There’s plenty of pressing issues involving London’s transport. But a few weekends with nothing stopping at Neasden isn’t one of them.
While Boris really shouldn’t have suggested that the Jubilee Line would never be affected by engineering works ever again, does Ken Livingstone’s team really want the Metropolitan Line to fall apart through lack of care?
London’s passengers certainly deserve a better transport network – but they also deserve a better mayoral contest than this.
See also How London Politics Works, and How London Politics Works Part 2.
24 Aug 2011
London agenda for Wednesday 24 August
1. Listen to Alessi’s Ark supported by Mechanical Bride and Stealing Sheep at Barfly [Run Riot]
2. Look at the industrial design that changed the world at This Is Design [Time Out]
3. Bowl with Moscow Youth Cult and Pandas and People all playing live as well as DJ support from The Monitors! at the Bloomsbury [Don’t Panic]
4. Have a conversation with playwright, director and actor Steven Berkoff in the Docklands [Ian Visits]
5. Browse at Greenwich Printmakers [Tired of London]
24 Aug 2011
23 Aug 2011
The Same Thing by Cass McCombs
A fine cut from Cass McCombs’ new album Humor Risk, his second of 2011, out November 8th on Domino.
22 Aug 2011
London agenda for Monday 22 August
1. Take a crash course in taxidermy with Art History in the Pub [Run Riot]
2. Silently watch the Buster Keaton classis, The Navigator, at the Barbican [Don’t Panic]
3. Wear the secret underpants, shake the secret handshake and explore the role of Freemasons in society [Ian Visits]
4. Take a Boris Bike on a trip out [Tired of London]
22 Aug 2011
Barber and Hayward
Two comics, no jokes. At least they were honest about this. Tom Hayward announced, ten minutes into his thirty minute slot, that he had no material, not even his “Have anybody ever/What’s up with that” schtick, and instead resorted to pointing at things.
20 Aug 2011
Snipe Highlights
Some popular articles from past years
- Nice map of London's fruit trees shows you where to pick free food
- Number of people using Thames cable car plunges
- London has chosen its mayor, but why can’t it choose its own media?
- Could red kites be London's next big nature success story?
- Hope and despair in Woolwich town centre
- Silencing the Brick Lane curry touts could be fatal for the city's self-esteem
- Nice Interactive timeline lets you follow Londoners' historic fight against racism
- Punk brewery just as sexist and homophobic as the industry they rail against
- Peter Bayley has worked for 50 years as a cinema projectionist in East Finchley
- Summer Camp: Roll out those lazy, hazy, crazy days
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