Half-decent? That's a stellar cast! I have seen it, but seem to remember it not being as good as its parts. I think I've seen a lower budget version that was better.
Tongue in cheek re cast. Film has crap music and editing but great acting. More about the post robbery backstabbing than anything.
Win-Stone never bettered his role as Gorgeous Gal Dove in Sexy Beast, it felt like a role written for him
Great evening last night. Finished work early and caught the train up to Glasgow to meet my son from work, then headed to Sugo, a pasta restaurant in the city we'd heard good reviews about. It's down the end of Mitchell Street in the city centre, and is surprisingly large inside. Ww'd tried to book ahead, but were told it was walk-ups only. It looked very busy (Friday evening, so you'd expect it to be) but we were seated pretty quickly. Open kitchen, which is always a good sign I think, but also in a seperate part of the room an open section where they were making fresh pasta in various shapes and styles. A small menu, pretty authentic looking. We opted for some sourdough with olive oil and balsalmic to start with, son had an arriabiata fettucini whilst I had rigatoni with spiced pork and nduja. A drink a piece too....ordered at 1730, on the table ten minutes later. Friendly service, the food was delicious - all for a touch over £40. Left and jumped in the car over to the Southside to Queens Park Arena. First time I've been to this venue, it's a medium sized amphitheatre in the park, holds about 1000.. Sat about in the park for a while soaking up a bit of the sun, which was a surprise as it had been pissing down all morning. Got in to the venue, pints of Joker IPA on draught for £6.50, some nice looking street food on offer too. Headed in to the arena itself to catch the evenings support act, German twee-pop Anna Erhard . Started off a bit slow, but she grew in to it. Reminded me a bit of Pip Blom. Then on to the main event, Yard Act. Probably not on most of your radars, from Leeds, a blend of Post-Punk with some Indie-rock. This was the fourth time we've seen them, and they just keep getting better. From early stuff like Dark Days and Fixer Upper, to the melodic tunes on album 2, and finishing off with crowd pleaser Trench Coat Museum They played for just under an hour and a half, and have come a long way since we first saw them. I do love an outdoor gig, especially when the weather holds out. Brilliant evening
Anybody watched Human on BBC4? Fascinating 5-part documentary tracing our ancestors from 300,000 years ago in Africa, to spreading across the globe reaching Australia and the Americas, living alongside the many different species of humans before being the only ones left, and how we've become the dominant species on the planet. Well worth a watch
The Quality Chop House, Farringdon Road. A venerable and respected institution. Straightforward and excellent food and wine. Staggeringly expensive for what it is. Followed up with couple at the Exmouth Arms. Good pub in a great place but also incredibly expensive.
Know it well from my time at Grays Inn Road. Strangely uncomfortable booth seating from what I remember. Great confit potatoes. Spent last Sunday afternoon in the Sir John Balcombe in Marylebone - £8.25 a pint!
£8.25!!! That's expensive even by London's standards. That pub is opposite where the Balcombe St siege took place in 1975. I pay £6.25 in my local for a pint of Moretti. Last week we were up in Leeds for my daughter's graduation. I thought beer was meant to be cheaper up north but I paid £6.45 for a pint.
The booths in the Chop House are apparently a part of its Grade 2 listing, so can’t be changed. Certainly a little uncomfortable but we anaesthetised ourselves with more wine than was strictly necessary.
My lot all went to see Oasis last night and all had the same feeling in that it was quite enjoyable but not very satisfying. No audience communication and a band that just seemed to be going through the motions. Glad I didn't waste my money.
We're seeing OhAsis and Complete Stone Roses later today, along with a few others.. guarantee it'll be more fun than Oasis at Wembley....and it was only £99 for the whole weekend
15 years ago, we started looking for an alternative music festival that was family friendly to start taking my son to. We'd done Reading, Glastonbury a couple of times and T in the Park ten times so wanted to include him in our yearly adventures into mayhem....after a bit of looking we found Doune the Rabbit Hole. In it's first year, it promised a completely different experience of the larger festivals. It was insane, under 500 attendees, most of whom appeared to be spaced out hippies or travelling folk. It took place in reconstructed medieval fort, the main stage was a flatbed truck, camping was in the middle of a forest, and it pissed down with rain the whole weekend, but we fell in love with the whole thing. The following year it moved to a different site, in the grounds of Cardross Estate, a beautiful stately home in the middle of nowhere. We decided to leave jnr behind until he was a bit older, and had a ball to ourselves. Gradually, the festival got bigger and bigger, growing a reputation for showcasing Scottish and UK up and coming bands along with some legend slots. Then Covid came, and put everything on hold. The 2020 festival was cancelled, but it looked like 2021 was going to happen, when they bought back isolation rules and it was cancelled at short notice. In order to recoup some of their losses the 2022 event doubled the size of the festival to 10,000 capacity and got some big names in - Amy McDonald, Teenage Fanclub, Belle and Sebastian top of the Scottish acts, but also John Cooper Clarke, Boney M, Patti Smith, 10CC amongst others. It all looked good, until loads of these artists and suppliers said they hadn't been paid - we'd had a great time but there was an unease about the future of the festival, so there was a bit of shock when they released tickets for 2023....and then cancelled the whole thing with less than a week to go to the event, owing nearly £1million. The company went bust, no more festival and it all left a sour taste in the mouth. We did manage to get our momey back through the bank, but lots of people we know were left out of pocket. Out of the blue last October, a new company announced that they had taken over the festival, rebranding as Back Doune The Rabbit Hole, downscaling and going back to basics. Early bird tickets for the weekend were only £99, so we decided we'd give it another go. There's been a few teething problems with the new management company in the lead up to the weekend, but finally it arrived and we got to the site mid-morning on Friday amid glorious sunshine. What a great weekend. About 4000 attendees, some great bands, good selection of beer and food, beer £6.50 a pint (Joker IPA for me, although there was plenty of choice). The weather held up but we decided to break camp early and came home last night before Floris kicked in, which in hindsight looks like a good decision. Musical highlights for me included some of the lesser known acts, Sleuth Gang, The Meffs and Meryl Streak. Some fun with Elvana, a Nirvana tribute band with an Elvis impersonator as front man that really works, great lightshow from Hawkwind who can still knock out a tune. Also some old school acts like The Rezillos, and OhAsis really had the tent in full voice. Hearing that it's going to be back for next year - we'll be there!
Saw the Rezillos, for the first time since 1980, a few months ago. Rather sad, Eugene and Faye doing their best but neither can sing any more and the incredible manic energy of the early days could never be maintained. Sounds like a good festival though, 4000 is a manageable crowd and a great price.
Just home from the wonderful Kelvingrove Bandstand...you'll struggle to find a better looking outdoor venue when the weather holds out, like it did tonight... First up were electronic duo Morgan Szymanski and Tommy Perman....Morgan is actually Andrew Mitchell from Idlewild....great sound with good visuals on the screen, ending up with a track they wrote along with Aiden Moffat from Arab Strap...very good Then the main act, Public Service Broadcasting. Seen them a few times, but this venue was the perfect setting for their mix of visuals, audio clippings and instrumentation, especially as the sun went down and the atmosphere became more intimate. They played quite a few songs from the latest album (about Amelia Earhart) interspersed with tracks from Every Valley, The Race for Space, and Inform, Educate, Entertain. Stand out tracks Monsoon, Spitfire, Go and Gagarin (where they were joined on stage by a dancing astronaut), and Everest as the finale. If you were drinking (not me tonight) it was £7 for a pint of Moretti, which I thought wasn't too bad. Another great evening outdoors - I love summer!!
Curb Your Enthusiasm. I've always had a problem with this show and I've only just now realised what it was. Larry David can't act.
