W1's best kept secrets

when it comes to central London, Mayfair isn't the most enthralling of areas. Overrun with tourists and assorted daytrippers traipsing up and down Oxford Street (and its slightly more upscale brethren, Regent Street), working here sometimes reminds me of the summer I worked at Eurodisney. Come to think of it I probably get asked "do you know where the toilets are" by tourists about as many times as back then. Yet spend enough time in the area and you begin to discover its quirks and idiosincrasies, just like the most colloquial of neighborhoods. Shoreditch this ain't, but at least they make the place seem more personal and, dare I say it, a bit pleasant.

the lower-ground floor at Selfridges:

At first I would look down at this floor when going up the escalator to the men's section and see people having lunch, or a display of cristal carafes and china sets, and think nothing of it. But venturing down one day on the recommendation of a coworker, I realized that this is in fact a tremendous emporium-like floor, where one could find not only the afore-mentioned carafes, but a fairly decent hardware and kitchen section, bags, a library, electronics, and most importantly, an HMV! No more wandering down to the overcrowded Bond Street store when I need to pick something up during a lunchbreak. Selfridges might be all about luxury goods and elitist consumption, but if all you need to buy is a couple of nails and an adapter plug, you can get that too.

Lancashire Court:

a stone's throw away from New Bond St, Lancashire Court is the ideal place to get a couple of after-work (or shopping) drinks and relax from the hustle and bustle of the area. Although service is typical of fancy establishments, aka not very good and sometimes downright snotty, the overall mood is laid-back, and the crowd mixed yet quite British compared to Eurocentric Soho. At the front of this small courtyard there's Hush, a bar/restaurant with a terrace that is well worth a try in the warmer months (some people call that summer, I'm still waiting on the evidence that such a season exists here). Then there is a narrow alleyway that separates 2-3 bars which quickly becomes cramped up during the happy hour rush. But the mojitos and Long Islands are pretty tasty, not that expensive and that, in my opinion, is reason enough for me to patronize the place.

the secret tennis court at :
what, you didn't think I was going to give away all my secrets, did you? Well-hidden to the unfamiliar eye, this haven for tennis aficionados is open to private members, yet is so unknown that nearly no one plays there. In fact, when a coworker and I got our membership we found out the were the 12th members, which might explain why last week we were able to book at court for 1pm at 12:59pm, even though it was sunny and fairly warm out. Located less than 100m from our office, this is the perfect antidote to boring gym sessions.

Grosvenor Square:

When you're just looking to sit down in the grass and enjoy a leisurely talk, it's better to keep it simple. Grosvernor Sq is definitely smaller than Hyde Park, way smaller even, but it feels quieter, with a very posh vibe befitting its West End location, which makes it perfect to just lay down, close your eyes, and forget where you are.

shortcuts - 22/11/07

listening:Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, his stuff is pretty good isn't it?

watching: It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia might be the funniest show on television since Seinfeld. Charlie Reilly for president.

buying: a few basics from the new Uniqlo store on Oxford Street, with its wall of cashmere sweaters.

eating: Thai food, always and forever.

reading: still stuck on Crime and Punishment. Here's hoping next week's 1h+ plane ride will help with that, although not if the iphone has its way...

attack of the spiteful playwrights

perhaps feeling miffed by the spectacularly bad reviews garnered by his recent screenwriting effort on the Jude Law/Michael Caine thriller Sleuth, Harold Pinter had the following to say about action blockbuster The Bourne Ultimatum and its namesake character:

"I saw a film, The Bourne Ultimatum," Pinter begins, "and I thought: Fucking hell! This guy is clearly the strongest man in the world. He can beat up about 12 people in about 35 seconds and kill half of them.

"The whole thing is totally unreal. I was stupefied by it, it was so lacking in intelligence." He adds that he sat in the cinema "seething, thinking: What am I doing here, being bombarded by this sound? It knocks you out."

Harold my dear, I know you're pretty well respected and all, what with your Nobel Prize, your prestigious plays and your pauses (hey look, a quasi-alliteration, I'm sure you love that!), but this is just silly. If this is the worst example of mindless moviemaking you can find, then I'm wagering that you don't venture out to the multiplex too often, and thus lack the proper perspective to judge the current crop of flicks put out by Hollywood.
Now myself, I go to the movies pretty often. Not as much as when I lived in Paris, but still enough to know how ridiculous this statement of yours is. See, what you didn't realize when you saw this quite-terrific movie, is that you were actually viewing a quite nuanced and smart(ish) work, one in which the hero isn't on the typical "rah-rah I will save the world" mission, but simply a man trying to right a wrong done to him, moral considerations be damned. You want a really stupid action movie, try Die Hard 4. I'm sorry, Die Hard 4.0. In it you'll see a hero take down a hovering helicopter with a police car, 40 feet off the ground. And there's also an episode between a supersonic jet and an eighteen wheeler, but I'll admit to you that the details of that remain fuzzy, I'd need to see it again (or not). Or go see recent vampire flick 30 Days of Night, about a gang of vampire seeking to kill all inhabitants from a small Alaskan town. Yep, I saw that one too, and even enjoyed parts of it, at least those when the 13 year-olds four rows back weren't gabbing loudly on their cell-phones.
You see the whole reason these movies exist is that, more and more, people are looking to escape. Modern life throws a lot of information at you, all the time, and going to see an action flick is now one of the rare moments when you can not think about that for a couple of hours, and just enjoy the moment. I agree, that doesn't mean those movies should abandon all semblance of realism and decent writing. And this is where that Bourne movie, and its two predecessors, come in. It's not an intelligent movie, by any means, but at least it's not trying to outdumb itself every passing second. It has great action scenes that feel more real than 99% of the other offerings in the genre, a story that actually progresses quite organically, and even decent acting. Unfortunately in today's cinematographic wasteland, that makes it a rarity. And if you still don't believe me, just watch Transformers. Then you'll know.

P.S.: okay I'll admit it, 30 Days of Night sucked

ambrosialism

Not that I'm a curmudgeon or anything, but I've never really adhered to the cult of cute that has become a major trend on the Internet in recent years (warning: link may contain pictures of baby chipmunks). With that said, when I bought a smoothie from Sainsbury's last Friday morning to ease myself into the start of my workday, I was instantly smitten:

The reason for this fetching sight is that juice and smoothie brand innocent has put little wool hats on all of their products sold at Sainsbury's to benefit the Age Concern charity, as part of their Big Knit campaign. It aims to help older people cope with the cold winter months, and with each sale of a hat-wearing drink, innocent and Sainsbury's will donate 50 pence to the cause. Now there's a fantastic reason to get behind the cute movement.

read more about it here

line of duty

even more surprising than horses clopping along on Oxford Street, this morning I came across this most random of sights:

Through exactly which circumstances could this seemingly-authentic NYC police car (with Empire State license plates no less) have ended up parked on tony Porchester Terrace? Maybe a newly-retired (and wealthy) member of NY's finest who decided to move to London couldn't bare losing his favorite vehicle. Or perhaps it belongs to a particularly enthusiastic collector of Die Hard 3 memorabilia. The car was still there in the evening, so it would seem like its (necessarily awesome) owner lives in the area. Heck, he probably went to work in his ambulance that day and this car is just his weekend impress-the-girls ride.

this year's model

out with the old:


in with the new:

Released in the UK to the usual Apple hullabaloo last Friday, the iPhone is that rarest of convergence devices: one that actually delivers multiple functions without overwhelming its user with unnecessary bells and whistles, while still looking good. Which is all I'll say about it for now. I'm still getting used to it, though I'm already at a point where I wonder how I could have functioned so long without it. As in, before this thing, what did I do when I was preparing dinner? Certainly not listen to Ryan Adams while reading a LA Times article, that's for sure. Which isn't the most necessary of things, granted, but as far as entertainment goes, it's pretty nifty.
Full(er) review to come.

just breathe