A Tempest In Stratford

Yesterday I went to see a production of  Shakespeare's "The Tempest" at The rebuilt RSC Theatre in Stratford yesterday.

Manga Shakespeare

The theatre is excellent not least for the excellent ventilation that ensures you remain awake for the whole of the performance. As well as that I picked up a manga version of "The Tempest" from the theatre shop, which I am looking forward to perusing as it is my favourite Shakespeare play. You can see the Reduced Shakepeare Company's version here.

Soldiers in the RSC Restaurant

I noticed lots of small model soldier displays around the bar which were there to advertise a "takeover day" on the 4th May. I'm not sure what is happening , may need to take another trip to Stratford on Friday to find out what it's all about









While in Stratford also found a brilliant restaurant  Edward Moon, which I would recommend to anyone.

The Avon is High

The Avon was very high at the time but just , lapping at the theatre steps , so no danger while we were there!!

Second Hand Plan - HMV , Poundland and Magpies

Many moons ago Music Magpie started buying CDs and DVDs from people , I wasnt sure exactly where this was going. Then That's Entertainment appeared on the high street , selling the second hand stuff to people as a proper record shop.

The thing is you can pick up a Robbie Williams , All Saints , Sugababes , Take That back catalogue for under a tenner second hand. The reason I'm posting this is that I've noticed Poundland are now selling second hand CDs for a pound , so I'm wondering if there is a connection.

Then yesterday I was in HMV in Stratford and noticed that HMV now have a second hand section where they sell stuff for £2 a throw. This was in addition to the Orange concession , the Apple / iPod Dock and DVD player display , T-Shirt section etc. They are so losing their identity .




The biggest irony is that despite selling CDs they don't sell anything you can play a CD on , well maybe their Blu-Ray and DVD players .....

Think Neil Innes Recycled Vinyl Blues is appropriate :

Just Wondering ...

In October / November 2011 it was World Novel Writing month and and at the time I wondered if I could sit down and write 2000 words from scratch. I managed to do it here , and got to thinking could I write a blog entry for a day for a month?

Last year I also managed 100 blog entries for the first time , that's two a week.

People keep diaries and that's all a blog is , albeit an online  version, and to be quite honest , you could easily write  forty entries in a day , maybe short ones, but nonetheless you could do it, and maybe I will actually try that one day.

For the time being I may actually try to complete at least one a day for the month of May 2012. I may do more than one a day but will at least post one entry every day this month and see if I can find something to post about.

Newspapers have to fill themselves everyday and there must be days when nothing really newsworthy happens , but that wont stop the Dail Mail and Daily Express coming with some scary headline or the Dail Sport finding a knicker shot of some C List celebrity to fill their front page

Unearthed Treasure

Just listening to Ken Bruce on Radio 2 , and a record came on that I knew , and thought a friend of mine Carol would love. I'd heard the record before and the lyrics had a stylish familiarity. The song was London from the album "Don't Stop Singing" by Thea Gilmore . The album is a project in which Thea has taken unused Sandy Denny lyrics and set them to music creating a very beautiful album . Sandy was a wonderful singer and writer and it is amazing that her words can still captivate and amaze , brought to life by the wonderful Thea Gilmore.




On a similar note Woody Guthrie's niece or daughter (sorry about this) found a huge box of her father's / uncle's lyrics and gave them to Billy Bragg and Wilco who recorded the songs , now available in The Complete Mermaid Sessions , breathing life into writings that may otherwise have been lost to us. Both these albums should be in everyone's collections , two absolute gems which I have just ordered,





You can probably even get them on iTunes , Amazon have the hard copy and download options!!

Cirencester

Not a very inspired title , but Cirencester is an extremely pleasant place.

The original reason for this blog was going to be a diary of places I'd visited , hence the Seven Days In name , but that soon went the distance. Also someone pointed out that in could be read as Seven Day Sin , which I believe was a raucous American combo!! 

It is posh because there are no betting shops , and unfortunately no record shops, and has it's infestation of Boots , WH Smiths , Subway etc. I didn't notice a McDonalds or KFC though !!

It has some excellent resturants and top end shopping, However my shopping was all done in Poundland , not a shop I frequent , but came out with some USB Data / Charging Cables and a Nine Black Alps CD. It is sad when you music has to come from Poundland!!

Cirencester Parish Church

Anyway Cirencester has a lot of impressive buiding including an unfeasibly high manicured hedge and an imposing parish church. It's easy to park and you can easily spend a day there.

Big Hedge in Cirencester

I also noticed an inordinate amount of charvers wearing trackie bottoms and backward peaked caps hanging around phone shops , Poundland and bus stops.


Don't let that put you off though , the place is full of charm and places to see , as well as eateries and watering holes!!

Heston Blumenthal - Artist

I detest almost all TV Celebrity cooks and chefs . They are usually self centred , self serving and annoying. However many years ago I saw another , who previously I had assumed would be annoying , doing a program which was "In Search of The Perfect Burger" . That guy was Heston Blumenthal . And he talked sense and was interesting.

Since then I have watched many of his programs and seen very few things I would want to eat , and less I could try to make. The programs are incredibly watchable and interesting often using liquid nitrogen , blow torches and dormice in his cooking , often making edible plates and cutlery . The guy is amazing and a true artist. He has his own restaurant the excellently named Fat Duck , and while I may eat there one day it would be with some trepidation.

So while I wont be eating I will be watching for a very long time.......

Eastern Promise

After watching the excellent Homeland and having seen numerous films about the threat from the Middle East from Ian , Iraq , Al-Quaeda and the like , and obviously these are trying to keep us as scared as possible of the bogeyman , usually in the form of a variant of Osama Bin Laden or Saddam Hussein.




Yes Team America took the proverbial very successfully , but I was wondering why Daniel Easterman (one of the pen names of Denis MacEoin) novels have never been filmed. Easterman is a superb author , and and expert in Middle East Affairs and his novels never fail to enthrall me . They have all the requisites for your average summer blockbuster , bombs , kidnaps , mysticism , conspiracies , religion , exotic settings , but I'm still waiting for the first celluloid outing.

Other than that he also writes as Jonathan Aycliffe , some excellent ghost stories such as the classic Naomi's Room , The Vanishment and The Matrix , one of the scariest books I have ever read.

If you have never read him track him down , I would have loved one of his books to appear on the World Book Night list.