LEDs plus sheep.. incredible..

I've just got back from a few days in London, and though the weather was gorgeous, I spent most of my time in various places underground.. All of these places are amazing.. go, now!

 

1. Watch a caberet in a converted Public Toilet

Cellar Door is an intimate bar beneath the Aldwich in a space which was once a toilet, and is now one of my favourite places to hang out.. they have an assortment of amazingly cool performers playing each night.. my favourite being Kitty La Roar and Nick of Time, who present the KitKatCaberet every thursday night from 9pm. Have a look at them mashing up Radiohead and Sinatra below;

 

2. Watch a show underneath the railway arches

Located underneath the railway arches of London bridge, The Southwark Playhouse is an amazing venue, putting on some great work.. Check it out!

 

3. Walk Under the Thames

At Greenwich, via the (admittedly slightly smelly) foot tunnel. Your best bet is a guided tour, organised by the Brunel Engine House Museum.

 

4. Eat in the Dark

Okay, so this one isn't undeground- but it is in the dark.. The USP of Dans Le Noir is that you eat your meal in complete darkness, enabling you to focus only on taste and smell. Diners start in the (well-lit) bar, and can choose from four secret, colour-coded menus: blue for fish lovers, green for vegetarians, red for meat lovers, and white for 'chef's surprise'. Food is served in a pitch-black dining room, where you are guided and served by blind staff.   Set dinner costs £39 for 2 courses and £44 for 3 courses.

 

5. Watch Macbeth performed in Clerkenwell Prison

The incredibly talented Belt Up Theatre have done it again, with this stunning version of Macbeth, performed underground in the haunted Clerkenwell Prison.. check it out before it closes on 8th May 2011!

 

 

 

 

Fancied doing this, but I wanted to avoid spamming my friends with a daily blog post.. so here they all are in one go..

A *SONG*...

1. From your first musical.

2. From your latest musical obsession.

3. Demonstrating how underrated you think a musical is.

4. Demonstrating how overrated you think a musical is.

5. Which makes you happy.

6. Which makes you sad/teary.

7. Sung by your favourite female singer in a musical.

8. Sung by your favourite male singer in a musical.

9. From the musical you know all (or nearly all) the lines to.

10. From your least favourite musical.

-they did THREE of these?!

11. From the musical which made the most impact on you.

12. You could listen to all day.

13. From the musical you loved from hearing the first note.

14. From the musical you haven't listened to (or seen) in a while.

15. By your favourite musical composer.

16. From your least favourite musical, by your favourite composer.

17. Which makes you dance.

18. With the best lyrics.

19. From a musical which disappointed you.

20. From your 'guilty pleasure' musical.

21. Which inspires you.

22. From the musical you wish was (never) made into a movie.

-bad casting of Mrs Lovett

23. From the musical which everyone should see performed live.

24. Which makes you laugh.

25. Which is your current favourite.

26. Sung by the character in a musical you can most relate to.

27. From a musical you'd love to see featuring/starring all your favourite performers.

28. Sung by the musical character you love to hate.

29. From the musical you would love to be involved in (directing, singing, etc.).

30. From your favourite musical.

I've always wanted to be the Witch.. 

 

(This is taken from ReflectionOf.me)

 

Next fancy dress, I'm going as Facebook.

 

 

 

 

Look how beautiful these cakes are from choccywoccydoodah! I just need a reason to get one..

Over the new year, I spent some time island hopping around the Caribbean with Mamma Jewkes. Here are some things that I learnt.

1. It takes approximately 9 1/2 distracted hours on a plane to draw out and cross-stitch a mustache.

2. In September of 2004, Hurricane Ivan swept the Caribbean taking 80 per cent of Grenada’s infrastructure with it and devastating the spice and tourist industries. The world responded generously to the calamity, which killed 39 of the tiny nation’s 103,000 people and left 90 per cent of the nation’s 28,000 houses in shambles, but there is still evidence all around the island of Ivan’s impact.

3. The people of Grenada, however, are unfailingly friendly and the locals are so willing to point out the island’s great views (and the spices on sale are amazing).

4. Hemmingways, on the main street in Antigua, serves the best lobster you will ever eat. ever.
5. Fruit and Veg can be made into the most remarkable things.

6. The same goes for beach towels

7. We spent two days in La Romana, and took the time to visit a family who showed us how they grew their own spices and food in their garden. The grandfather also showed us how he rolled his own flavoured cigars. He let me take home the ones I rolled- I don’t think they were done very well..

8. We also visited a school, and learnt a little about the education system in La Romana. The kids were great, although they’re in dire need of books, pens and supplies. If anyone is interested in helping out- I’m going to be organising for a shipment to be sent over to them, any donations will be gratefully received. Here is a picture of one of the classes in the schools one and only classroom (which has to be shared between 200 kids), and a photo of Cozzie and little Tia who is modelling Mamma Jewkes’ sunhat. (Mamma actually ended up giving Cozzie that hat..)
 

9. When we reached Barbados, there was only one place I wanted to visit; Mount Gay Rum distillery. It didn’t disappoint. The rum is sold nearly 10% stronger here- and it tastes amazing. Ask for the bartender to mix you his favourite cocktail, it’ll be amazing.

10. One pineapple plant will only produce one pineapple. Likewise, banana trees take 2 months to mature, and 9 months to produce one ripe crop of bananas - as our guide said, ‘like a woman grows her baby’. These bananas are covered in blue bags as they grow, so as to protect them from insects and diseases. The views from the plantations are amazing.

11. New Year resolutions are best made on the beach.

12. When you’re new to a city, I recommend that you walk until you get a little bit lost and then head t’ward the dirtiest looking cafe. Ask for the local food and inevitably, you’ll eat the best food of your life. This time it was Jerk Chicken, Rice and Beans- and a homemade blend of ginger ale.

13. When it rains in the Dominican rainforest, it really, really rains. We were on a riverboat when the heavens opened, and the boat filled up with water so quickly we very nearly sank! A beach towel will not offer sufficient protection from the rain.

14. In the middle of the rainforest there is, rather inexplicably, a bar. It can be reached only by boat down the river, and there they will serve you the most potent rum punch of your life. The trip back down the river in the rain seemed worth while.
15.  Pregnant lady lizards are apparently very lazy.. This one didn’t move for about 5 hours. Good for her.

16. While we were ‘trapped’ at the rainforest bar (due to the rain) one of the bar staff showed me how to make a ‘fishing bird’ out of one of the long leaves. It was as fiddly as it looks.

17. The organised snorkel trips out to the reef are ridiculously expensive- costing nearly £68 a go. Don’t bother! You can rent a snorkel set for about $15, and if you get chatting to one of the locals, they’ll probably offer to take you out to see the wrecks and the reef themselves. There I encountered a Sea Turtle I was so surpised by it that I squealed into the snorkel and swallowed a load of sea water. The turtle had no reaction.

18. The fact that your iphone doesn’t work, and there is only sporadic access to wifi is actually a liberating experience. I took my vintage fountain pen out for a whirl. Travel journal: 1, Facebook: 0.

19. Nobody looks good in a life jacket. (Especially pulling that face, Mamma!)
20. Mums make excellent traveling partners.

The other day a student asked me what made a good blog, which made me think about what blogs I enjoy reading.. here are the links to a few that I browse when I'm in downtime.. If you have any suggestions of blogs I'd love, post them below.

 

forbookssake.net -For Books' Sake is an intelligent but irreverent website featuring books by and for independent women, including news, reviews, features and interviews.

whatkatiedoes.net -What Katie Does is just brilliant. She blogs about stuff that she does, and that she likes. I love it.

domesticsluttery.com -the home and lifestyle blog for women who have better things to do. I follow their facebook as well..

biggirlsbrowse.com -a blog for women who have boobs bigger than a b cup.

booooooom.com -brilliant creative/design blog, written by the super cool jeff hamada and friends.

bestforfilm.com -like film? go here. My super cool mate Tash is the head honcho editor lady, and she's an incredibly funny, talented writer type.

spoongraphics.co.uk -a great design blog, really useful when I was learning to use indesign and photoshop.

hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com -funny drawings.

informationisbeautiful.net -the blog behind the books -full of beautiful data visualisations.

bookshelfporn.com -some of these bookshelves are crazy.

nicecupofteaandasitdown.com -the premier web site for tea drinkers who are keen on sitting down and biscuits. Oh and cake aswell. If you eat biscuits then its a fair bet you'll have some cake if its on offer.

catsthatlooklikehitler.com -i love the internet.

xkcd.com -A webcomic of Romance, Sarcasm, Math and Language.

 

happy reading.

 

kx

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A few months ago, I was talking to a friend about how York City Centre seems to transform itself after dark. Personally, I much prefer dark York to its lighter twin, the atmosphere seems crisper, with fewer tourists, leaving only the city dwellers with their stories to tell- lazy lovers walking hand in hand, and drunk boys and girls breaking the comfortable silence with their singsonging catcalls.

This discussion led to my decision to work with York Theatre Royal's Takeover Festival and York City Council's Illuminating York festival to create a sound walk which explores the light and dark of York, I'm proud to say that this is one of the first Arts Collective produced works, and a mini milestone in the two month growth of the company.

I was really pleased to get the incredibly talented Hannah Nicklin on board to write and perform the piece, along with Lantern Music who have created the most beautiful score for the Soundwalk.

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If you would like to take part in the event, then please download the sound file (and instructions) from http://nightwalkyork.tumblr.com/ ...I've also attached the file below, so you should be able to download the track from here- just click the red 'download' underneath the audio clip. Try not to listen to the track before you start walking- you'll spoil the story!

The Nightwalk can be done as a group- or on your own, but everyone who wants to take part must have downloaded the .mp3 onto their mp3 player (be that your phone, ipod or something similar), wrap up warm and head towards the Dean park entrance to the Minster Gardens (A map can be found here).

A group of us will be doing the soundwalk at 7pm on Wednesday 27th and 7pm on Saturday 30th October, however- if you can't make those times, then feel free to download the piece and enjoy at any point after dark. Do let us know what you thought- you can tweet Hannah at @hannahnicklin and you can reach me @katherine_ann, using the hashtag #nightwalkyork, alterntively, you can email Hannah_nicklin@hotmail.com or myself at Katherine@theartscollective.org.uk.

 

Nightwalk York is produced by The Arts Collective on behalf of York Theatre Royal's Takeover Festival & York City Council's Illuminating York. A big thanks to Hannah Nicklin and Lantern Music for creating such a wonderful piece of work.