Where are you going tonight?

[Bruce Rioja]

Stiff Little Fingers this evening, for what must be about the 30th time. The trains aren't running, so that'll be fun!

[clapton is god]

Comedy Store in Manc tonight. Johnny Vegas, Sarah Millican and Justin Moorhouse. Some charity gig. Might have to throw a cheeky Dimitris in too.

[clapton is god]

Comedy Store in Manc tonight. Johnny Vegas, Sarah Millican and Justin Moorhouse. Some charity gig. Might have to throw a cheeky Dimitris in too.

Was a good night! Sarah Millican up first. My God, but she's rude when live! Rob Deering next and he was the star of the show for me. I looked him up on youtube later and found what we innocently thought was a spontaneous act was actually a highly polished routine*. After the break came Johnny Vegas on the comeback trail after a long lay-off from stand-up. I think this was more Michael Pennington up there rather than Vegas. Nowhere near the old vindictive acid that he once had, but perhaps thats a good thing, for him at least. Rounded off by Justin, who gave a solid and extremely funny performance. Twenty minutes each, or thereabouts, all held together by an equally funny MC, Mick Ferry. Great night out.

* This was the core of Deerings act and we got it word for word. Very, very funny. There was a UKIP song too, also available on Youtube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQ722h-VVKs" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[LeverEnd]

My mate went to that Clapton, said it was good. I'm no fan of Millican on TV, spectacularly unfunny. I once saw Jason Manford in the Glee Club in Birmingham and thought he was excellent. That was before he started to do his mass-appeal TV thing to sweep up all those bereft in the absence of Peter Kay. Obviously some of them use very different material.

[twilight]

Went to Woodside Inn at Worsley, the food there is pretty good and enjoyed every minute

[boltonboris]

Went to Woodside Inn at Worsley, the food there is pretty good and enjoyed every minute

Assume you didn't speak to the landlord then! Would've put a dampener on your evening!!

[KeyserSoze]

Mate down this weekend so first bit of real tourismy stuff. Good times.

Took him to Times Square, central park and then had a wander around MoMa. There was a Bjork exhibition on, which we didn't get to see, but the huge projection of her on one of the walls of the gallery was quite striking. Felt like watching those old films where godzilla or king kong peers through the window looking at who's inside



Enjoyed wandering around the gallery, though given we got in relatively late we rushed it a bit. Favourite painting by a mile was Hide-and-Seek by Pavel Tchelitew. I'll give a wiki link here, but it does it no justice at all. One of the most striking and detailed things i've ever seen http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hide-and-S ... ainting%29" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Sunday we wandering around the botanical gardens in brooklyn (he's a biologist so up his street). Not much blooming yet but the stuff indoors was good, particularly the bonsai trees and jungle stuff. And cacti.

The went to MoMA PS1 in Queens - offshoot of MoMA. You get free entry if you have a MoMA ticket, and must say really enjoyed. A lot more contemporary stuff and a lot more video/political/installationy things. There was an exhibit on called Zero Tolerance which was fantastic - a look at protest movements through the world. A few other things caught the eye as well, such as a film about the crusades done with marionettes, and my personal favourite was Samara Golden's Flat side of a knife which is a really trippy and detailed installation. Part penrose paradox, part really clever bit of design http://momaps1.org/exhibitions/view/390" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Dr Hotdog]

Tonight it's Sleater Kinney at the Albert Hall. Waited a long time for this lot to come back! Very excited!

[twilight]

Went to Woodside Inn at Worsley, the food there is pretty good and enjoyed every minute

Assume you didn't speak to the landlord then! Would've put a dampener on your evening!!

To be honest it's the first time I have been there, and seems decent, Boris. Had an altercation with him have you?

[jaffka]

I used to fancy bjork

[boltonboris]

Went to Woodside Inn at Worsley, the food there is pretty good and enjoyed every minute

Assume you didn't speak to the landlord then! Would've put a dampener on your evening!!

To be honest it's the first time I have been there, and seems decent, Boris. Had an altercation with him have you?

He's a bell-end. It's my local the Woodie, but don't venture in too often because that fat bastard

[Il Pirate]

Been down the street a couple of times to look at the USS Theodore Roosevelt, or 'The big stick'. Currently moored in the Solent between Ryde pier and Stokes Bay, Gosport. A Nimitz class aircraft carrier, she's too big to sail into Portsmouth. Very impressive, and when you reflect on what the government has done to our naval forces over the last twenty years, looking at ships like this, we may as well go to war in a kayak armed with an air pistol.

[Abdoulaye's Twin]

By the time Osbourne is done it'll be a lilo and a water pistol.

[Little Green Man]

Been to see a couple of b/w photography exhibitions in Liverpool today. The first was Tony Ray Jones with Martin Parr at the Walker, the second images from post-war Japan at the Open Eye. Both very good, especially the former.

[Prufrock]

Tastecarding Pizza Express then free tickets to Frank Turner at the Royal Albert Hall. Can't wait!

[Bijou Bob]

Tastecarding Pizza Express then free tickets to Frank Turner at the Royal Albert Hall. Can't wait!

I do keep wondering about a Taste card. Good value outside of That There London, or not?

[clapton is god]

Octagon yesterday evening for Noel Cowards 'Private Lives; an intimate comedy.'

A really lovely production full of good humour. Considering this was written in 1930 over a three day period it is a fantastic play and a really good performance. Only one of the cast will be familiar to regulars so some new faces on stage. I love coming out of theatre with a big smile on my face and this certainly did that for me. Well worth going!

[Prufrock]

Tastecarding Pizza Express then free tickets to Frank Turner at the Royal Albert Hall. Can't wait!

I do keep wondering about a Taste card. Good value outside of That There London, or not?

I'm not sure this is v helpful, bit depends how much you'll use it (and how much you pay for it). Need to get a decent whack out of it to make the full price one (about £70 iirc) worth it. But keep an eye out as they do deals and offers. I got ours for £30 just before Xmas. We've defo got our money back as have used it pretty much every week.

Last time I was back up there we looked and there wasn't a lot, though that tapas place in Horwich is on. Must be loads in Manny though. If you go on the Tastecard website you can search for places that do it, including on Google maps which is helpful.

Most places don't do Fri or Sat but we've started doing Sunday tea out which is nice.

[Prufrock]

Had mates rave about Idlewild for years. Couldn't be more underwhelmed. splitting the line in the middle of the road at the centre of the place.

[Guy comes on]
"Hi, we're Idlewild, from Scotland"
[Starts singing in an American accent]

Oh do feck off.

[Bruce Rioja]

Went on Saturday to watch 12 Angry Men at The Lowry. Absolutely superb. It's been on my must-see list of plays for a while now, and it really lived up to my expectations. Tom Conti was excellent in the Henry Fonda role.
Yesterday I went back to the Lowry to take in a couple of exhibitions. Casa Tomada was/is absolutely superb. Disturbing but in a really good sort of way. It deals with the subject of natural migration, so Hoboh won't like it - he'll be pouring hot water onto the ants .The other exhibition was of the work of LS Lowry. This is the 2nd Lowry exhibition I've been to, 25 years apart, and for the 2nd time I came away thinking what a pile of shit Lowry's paintings are (with the exception of a couple of portraits).