I spent Saturday afternoon hanging with Stormtroopers.
Still pulling the footage off the camera, but here’s something I did on the LG Viewty:
More to come…
Archive for the 'London' Category
All a bit too Mighty Boosh for my liking, but a good night out.
We’ve had Jessa from Bookslut staying with us for the week as she was covering the London Book Fair, so a bit of a book geek bash seemed in order.
Pub / Thai / pub / tube/ home/ whisky and kittens.
With Jess, James, Liv, Ben, Mecca and… oh yeah… after a drop of single malt we finally saw Rob’s alter ego: The Hinch
We also saw the Hoxton locals share an expensive looking wheel chair which seemed to be the latest fashion accessory, a guy looking very relaxed waiting for the tube as he filled his shoes with vomit and then we somehow managed to catch the Death Carriage with the puke guy and yet the smell of fresh human excrement seemed to be coming from another part of the train entirely.
I love living in the city.
I kept forgetting to post this video on my own blog (some vlogger I am), but now it’s up on Londonist I guess I should give it a home here:
A couple of things bug me about this now that it’s out in the wild. I’ve since found out more stuff about the tank that I’d liked to have included, but if I get enough I’ll do a follow up later in the year. The editing is awful, but that’s ok because I’m learning as I go along and I put it together at 4am. The ‘titles’ are too long and already piss me off. I have a lot of musical friends so ripping off L7 should stop at some point…
There’s a lot I like about the video too. It frees me from the pressure of coming up for a ’show’ for Blip and Viddler and all the other services out there. By piecing this thing together for Semanal (more about that in the next post) it gives me the perfect excuse to focus on a show type format while I use smaller vids to pepper the site with no real agenda. The title ‘Visible Monsters’ of course was just an extension of this blog’s title, but now people expect a series of similar London based stories. That’s no problem as I have a bunch and it’s also kind of fun.
One man’s monster is another man’s hero so there’s plenty of scope there.
Right, now I should talk about WHY I’n vlogging which is more interesting… stay tuned.
A few months back I was asked to pitch some ideas with my friend Gia at some movie bods for something fun to do with bloggers as a pre-release event for a movie. One of the ideas was a little shindig based on the earlier Twitter event that I ran. With that particular movie it didn’t quite work out and we just ran with a screening.
Since the first London Tweetup I get asked a lot if there’s going to be a second one. The plan was to do one in November, but I was too busy to sort it out. Now with December filling up fast I wanted to get something nailed down. Not just another little drink and nibble session, but something that we could build into a regular series of events in 2008.
Then I took my favourite video blogger on a Tuk Tuk ride through London. Then I got word that the blogger event was back on, but for a different movie. Then said Tuk Tuk partner, suggested we try and merge the two…
So we did just that.
I’m happy to invite any London Twitter users to a preview screening of Jason Reitman’s Juno on the 4th of December. The movie will be followed by an (also free) pre-Christmas party at the Union Bar.
Because this is a combined event the places I have are limited. Right now I have 25 seats for the movie, but if we go through those quickly there’s a chance I’ll get more. This is a FREE event just as long as you’re already on Twitter and are able to get to London on the 4th of December. This is strictly a first come first served basis so please leave a comment below along with your Twitter name so I can shove you on the list.
I saw Juno at the London Film Festival this year and it’s hilarious.
This year’s critically acclaimed film, Juno stars Ellen Page as MacGuff, a confident teenage girl who faces an unplanned pregnancy. She calls the shots with a nonchalant cool and an effortless attitude as she journeys through an emotional nine-month adventure into adulthood. Juno and best friend Leah (Olivia Thirlby) hatch a plan to find Juno’s unborn baby the perfect set of parents, Mark and Vanessa Loring (Jason Bateman and Jennifer Garner), who are longing to adopt their first child. Luckily, Juno has the support of her dad and stepmother (J.K. Simmons and Allison Janney). Juno conquers her problems head-on, displaying a youthful exuberance both smart and unexpected
I’m really excited to invite friends to see it. This works well for Twitter users as we get a free movie and a little get-together and it works great for the film company as people on Twitter just can’t shut up 
Some of you may have already been invited to the screening as ‘prominent bloggers’ in your own right. If that’s the case there’s no need to ask for another place as you’re already in.
Thanks to Rupert for suggesting the merge and Sheena and Fox Searchlight for being open to the idea of a social media gatecrash.
If this proves to be a fun night out (and I’m guessing we’ll have a great night) what I’d like to do is set up a maybe-monthly Twitter event based on the model. A bunch of us go to see a movie early, or perhaps an art show preview or anything else I can throw a group of us together for. Then we use Twitter to talk about it. But I also want to pepper the calendar with simple - let’s all go to the pub - events. And if I can wrangle someone to pay for a bar I will.
Let’s get December out of the way first though. Let me know who’s coming in the comments below…
UPDATE: The screening itself will take place in Soho Square at 6pm for a 6.30 start. The bash afterwards will kick off at 8pm at The Union, Soho in nearby Greek Street which is booked until midnight.
“We’re stuck in the fold of a map in the middle of Romania.”
A wet Monday morning, a 10.30am start and a large turnout for the first press screening of the festival, which is a pleasant change. Sometimes these things are as empty as a church or a training bra.
This morning’s movie is billed as a “Balkan farce” so I was naturally expecting just the usual die hard film nuts, but the place is half full. A lot of industry pass holders I see and not that many press. I assume there’s a certain curiosity to see what this young guy came up with before the taxi he was travelling in was crushed, killing him and his career stone cold dead.
About ten minutes before the lights dim, Tom from Solace in Cinema walks in and takes a seat next to me. We’re both seeing as much of the festival as we possibly can and this will be the first time I’ll have someone whose opinion I trust to bounce ideas off after the screenings. Tom’s site as I keep telling anyone who will listen is the only UK film website worth paying attention to. The guy knows his stuff.
As if to underline this as the film starts we seem to be the only people in the room who are laughing out loud at the scene of a Romanian family being chased down the spiral staircase to a bomb shelter by a clanging, rolling unexploded bomb. As it finally rolls to a halt without killing anyone we see the stamp: MADE IN CALIFORNIA.
It’s a great way to open a movie and I find myself warming to the dead guy immediately. Nemuscu, an obviously talented bastard ,gets taken out in something as stupid as a car accident and Michael Bay who spends a lot of time surrounded by heavy ordnance is still alive. There’s no fucking justice in the world. Continue reading ‘California Dreamin’’
The Times BFI London Film Festival runs from the 17th of October until the 1st of November, but it started for me yesterday morning. By the end of this week alone I’ll have been to 16 press screenings with maybe another 40 or so to follow.
My review to watching ratio usually falls apart after the first week as the films pile up, but this year I’m determined not to fall behind. If you see me slacking punch me on the arm.
I saw three movies yesterday and one this morning with two more to follow today including an evening screening of Wes Anderson’s The Darjeeling Limited. Doesn’t leave much time for writing in between.
Thankfully I’m back on coffee. It’s going to be a long (but fun) month.
I’ve always had a soft spot for cosplayers. Growing up as a metal head when everyone else was into The *spit* Smiths meant putting up with a lot of crap. Although I never felt ridiculous backpatched and longhaired when every other silly fucker was wearing dungarees and had dead flowers hanging out their backside.
I have no idea how much grief these kids got today for living the dream:
More pics here. They were on Oxford Street for an Anime Day @ HMV. Sadly I had no idea that Electric Eel Shock were playing instore or I would have got there earlier myself.
Bank Holiday Monday sees another kind of costumed fan take to the streets as the dead walk. I’ll be checking that out too.
A much more orderly event was Shiny Media’s Brands & Blogs conference the following day. Just having coffee ready for me was enough to make the event a million times more successful than the Chinwag fiasco. We were running late so managed to avoid the roving camera, but found the speakers to be on the whole an interesting bunch. Yet again there was a blogger shaped hole up on the stage, but it was interesting to hear the American/Canadian perspective from Jeremy Wright and Richard Rocca (B5 Media and Glam). Shiny revealed some interesting facts too:
There’s a Flickr set of the day here including the view from atop Centre Point:
Not a bad place for a conference…
The problem with work is that it keeps getting in the way of everything else. I shouldn’t complain as it’s nice to be in demand, but I’ve thoroughly neglected all my blogging duties. Back to it with a little roundup.
On Thursday night I went to the Chinwag ‘Big Summer 07′ event. Quite simply the worst event experience I’ve had in London. Jess and I were in the queue for 45 minutes. A team of volunteers for The Big Chill managed to work the line and hand out crap very quickly, but no one from Chinwag could do the same to get us through the door faster?
Once we neared the front of the line we then saw signs informing us to get into two separate queues marked A-N and M-Z depending on the first letter of our email addresses. Madness. No one was in the mood to split up from their friends at this point despite the sudden barking orders of Chinwag militia. As it turned out it didn’t matter as both lines bottlenecked at a single table anyway. The stressed staff where by this point having as much fun as we were as they dealt with pissed off people and multiple printed lists of registrants that weren’t in alphabetical order. Shambles.
By this point we had been joined by Rob and the Twitter drums were informing us that once inside things weren’t much better. We sound found ourselves pushing through yet another incredibly long queue for food to join an even longer queue for the bar.
Rumours about the money running out in the next half hour or so where all that people were talking about. It was a little like being in a badly run student union bar, but as one fellow Twitterer put it, “Everybody is scum”.
The wanker ratio was high.
Leaving poor Annie Mole behind we left and bumped straight into Ian Forrester with his ever handy videocamera and felt much better after slagging the event off on ‘tape’. In fact we did meet some interesting people there, but they were all in the queue or fuming and already on their way back to the nearest station.
We went for a nice meal (and a large quantity of wine) at Dino’s before rounding up more Chinwag survivors via Twitter and retiring to the nearest pub for some more venting…
This is from the final reminder email they sent out to those of us ‘lucky’ enough to have registered in time:
Save time & hassle - print your badge in advance! Simply print it out, cut it out, write your name & company on it, bring it along, and hey presto you’re in faster than those who don’t!
Everyone I saw had done this and it did nothing to help speed things up.
Doors open at 6pm and the bars open at 6.30pm, when entertainments also begin. We anticipate sizeable queues, so best to get there early
I have friends who got their way earlier than me (they queued for just as long) and friends who got there after I left (they also queued for just as long).
Bottom line: I’d rather chew through my own lower intestine than go to anything branded Chinwag again.
I’d forgotten all about this interview, but it looks like it was just published (or not - I’m useless at keeping track of these things).
Ironically that main photo was taken on my way back from the airport when I was less than overjoyed to be back in London. I should go hang out with the tank more as I’m never happier than when Hulk posing (I heard there’s a Banksy there now too).
And it was a nice touch to trawl my Flickr stream for anything tagged ‘moleskine’. Almost makes me look creative
Thanks Claudia!
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