London agenda for Thursday 2 June
1. Listen to some vintage sounds, upbeat tempos, lycra and clever lyrics at Correspondents Pre-festival Showcase [Le Cool]
2. View provocative artists from around the world, from prisoner Charles Bronson, Bolivian enfant terrible & coca-leaf artist Gaston Ugalde at Guerilla Zoo [Run Riot]
3. Get grubby at the Wellcome at Dirt: The Filthy Reality of Everyday Life [Flavorpill]
4. Watch two rival tour bus companies race against each other while their bored guides make up alternative histories of London at The Scoop The venue, not our Scoop. [Time Out]
5. Ensure that the border of the City are correctly layed out [Ian Visits]
6. Drink at the Lord John Russell [Tired of London]
02 Jun 2011
Situation by Making Friendz
Making Friendz is the solo alter ego of MEN bassist Tami Heart. She releases new album Social Life, her first in 10 years, June 21st via Last Bummer Records. Check out the punky doo-wop of lead single Situation below and the accompanying gross-out video, described by makers Wildwood as a ‘joyous puke festival’. Not for the faint-hearted or weak of stomach.
01 Jun 2011
MPs moot early summer holiday next year, probably so they can go watch the best Olympic events
“The dedicated Olympic route network goes through Parliament Square and that makes access to Parliament difficult.”
Transport Secretary Philip Hammond justifies the prospect of an early summer holiday for MPs in 2012. I wonder how they fared in the ticket ballot… Via BBC News
01 Jun 2011
London agenda for Wednesday 1 June
1. See some flashing images, sonic feedback, harsh oscillations and ethereal imagery from Chris Cunningham [Le Cool]
2. View Caroline Hall and her third exciting and thought provoking show [Run Riot]
3. Fall in love with The Fall again [Flavorpill]
4. Watch the ballet ‘Manon’ on a big screen at Trafalgar Square [Time Out]
5. Learn about…. The Sun [Ian Visits]
6. Buy wine at Berry Bros and Rudd [Tired of London]
01 Jun 2011
Are cemeteries the new urban playgrounds?
“Neon-clad runners, their ears stuffed with iPod earphones, sometimes appear, puffing and panting, in front of a solemn funeral procession.”
Der Spiegel reports that Munich’s cemeteries are being overrun by joggers, sunbathers and children’s parties. Anyone who’s been to Abney Park in Stoke Newington recently will recognise the trend. Ethical dilemma of the day: How recent does a grave have to be before an evocative journey into the past becomes disrespectful trampling on the memory of the dead? My answer: about 75 years.
31 May 2011
The Hangover Part II
Those clever, clever folks at Warner Bros. have gone and done it again: taken a hugely successful film like The Hangover (highest grossing R-rated comedy film of all time, dontcha know?) and strung it out into an unnecessary sequel. Less hangover, more paralytic three-day blackout – the kind which really starts to drag after a while. In the second instalment of Todd Phillips’ über-successful buddy comedy concept the ‘Wolfpack’ are back, and you can bet your bottom baht* that it’s going to be messier, crazier and yet somehow exactly the same as Las Vegas. Except with more Thai ladyboys.
31 May 2011
Get drunk over the weekend? This is what you looked like
“The drunkard commonly hath a swollen and inflamed face beset with goodly jowles; swimming, running, glaring, goggle eyes, bleared and red; a mouth nasty with offensive fumes, alwayes foaming, or drivelling; a feverish body; a sicke and giddy braine; a mind dispersed; a boyling stomacke; rotten teeth; stinking breath; a drumming eare; a palsied hand; gouty, staggering legs, that would go, but cannot; a drawling, stammering, tongue, clamped to the roofe and gumms.” [Via the excellent Dainty Ballerina, comes an entertaining collection of 17th century anti-booze texts]
31 May 2011
A possibly apocryphal story about the weirdest club in London
A friend of a friend recently went out in West London, to a bar near the King’s Road. Having paid his entrance fee, and enjoyed some pleasant badinage with the bouncers, he moved upstairs to the bar. The second he stepped inside the door, a red laser spot appeared unerringly on his chest, as if he was being targeted by a crack sniper. Then a bouncer appeared from nowhere and made to grab him round the neck. But then he relent at the last moment as the red spot flicked from my friend’s chest to land on someone standing behind him. Upon looking up, my friend saw that this damn spot came from a laser pen wielded by a man behind the bar in lounge suit and tie, wearing sunglasses and smoking a cigar. It turns out that this man runs the bar, and that each night he uses the laser pen to signify to the bouncers which customers he wants removed from his sight. Upon selection, there is no right of appeal. The spot cannot be cleansed.
31 May 2011
London agenda for Tuesday 31 May
1. Listen to some ‘super-charming 60s girl-pop that fizzes with exuberance and naive charm’ with Cults [Le Cool]
2. Get some perspective on weight with the first Burger Queen contest – a beauty pageant for fat people & friends [Run Riot]
3. Take a journey through time at space at the Book Club with Ghostjumps and Wormholes [Flavorpill]
4. Watch Jimmy McNulty in Butley [Time Out]
5. Ponder if critics help or hinder the arts [Ian Visits]
6. Watch the planes at London City Airport [Tired of London]
31 May 2011
Badminton bosses try to sex up the sport for 2012 Olympics by making women wear shorter skirts
“TV ratings are down. We want to build them up to where they should be. They play quite well. We want them to look nicer on the court and have more marketing value for themselves. I’m surprised we got a lot of criticism.” [Via Hypervocal]
27 May 2011
Snipe Highlights
Some popular articles from past years
- Hope and despair in Woolwich town centre
- An interview with Desiree Akhavan
- London has chosen its mayor, but why can’t it choose its own media?
- Peter Bayley has worked for 50 years as a cinema projectionist in East Finchley
- Margaret Thatcher statue rejected by public
- The five spookiest abandoned London hospitals
- Number of people using Thames cable car plunges
- A unique collection of photos of Edwardian Londoners
- Silencing the Brick Lane curry touts could be fatal for the city's self-esteem
- Punk brewery just as sexist and homophobic as the industry they rail against
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