A man posing as Darth Vader attacked a Star Wars fan, who had founded a Jedi Church
and
Earlier, when Hughes failed to arrive on time, District Judge Andrew Shaw issued an arrest warrant, adding: “I hope the force will soon be with him.”
and
Mrs Lloyd said: “He was wearing a black bin bag and a cape and had a metal crutch in his hand.”
Mrs Lloyd said he was shouting “Darth Vader”.
She added that Hughes hit Barney Jones over the head with the crutch, leaving him with a headache.
and
he had no idea where he got the crutch from
To be fair, we’ve all had nights like that.
Of course, most people know that before he turned to the Dark Side, Darth Vader was also the Green Cross Code Man. Apparently this particular 1970s Green Cross Code film was shot round the corner from me, on Northcross Road in East Dulwich. It could be, but I’m not 100 percent…
The undoubted highlight of my social calendar last year was the raucous week spent on Rhodes for Jonathan & Suzanne’s wedding. Although it fell during my somewhat extended blogging hiatus, I can tell you Lindos was lovely, we met lots of good people and had fun in rather epic proportions. Once back in Blightly I put together a little site for the photos, should you wish to view strangers getting married/drunk in Lindos: Escape to Athena (named after the classic Roger Moore/Telly Savalas war film which used several locations around Lindos).
Of course it’s never easy maintaining one’s sartorial elegance in warmer climes; the slightest fashion faux pas could even lead to one being mistaken for Johnny Foreigner. With that in mind I took it upon myself to put together a little fashion guide for the Groom and Best Man, well in advance of the wedding. I’ve kept the page in case it comes in useful for anyone else getting married abroad: looking cool at a hot wedding. Sadly Jonathan and Simon chose to disregard my advice.
I had an unexpected email yesterday, from someone at the Evening Standard who’d read my take on the best british sitcoms (written in 2004) and wondered if I’d be interested in writing a few words on Gavin and Stacey winning a BAFTA and the state of sitcoms in general. Despite not exactly being an avid Standard reader, I am a fan of Gavin and Stacey, so I quickly tapped out a few paragraphs and emailed it over. I didn’t think what I wrote was particularly good (certainly less potentially libellous than my original) - writing hundreds of words is so much harder than writing thousands - but it was kind of fun seeing it in the paper today.
I know it’s best to best to cater to your audience, but sadly the short nature of the piece meant I wasn’t able to include any references to Ken Livingstone funding illegal immigrants bent on evil terrorism. Still, probably goes without saying to the average Standard reader. Anyway, thanks to Josh at the paper for including this URL in it.
On to more interesting things…. In between meetings today I managed to pop in to the British Museum to see The American Scene: Prints from Hopper to Pollock exhibition, and very good it was too. With about 150 prints covering a wide range of styles and subject matter, I thought the exhibition did an excellent job of examining American artists’ responses to the changing culture and politics in the first half of the 20th century.
Many of the images in the intervening period explore the changing urban landscape of New York, the onset of the Depression, the romanticised visions of the American heartlands by the Regionalists, the response to the rise of Fascism in Europe and America’s entry into the Second World War.
It’s on until September and admission’s free, so highly recommended if you’re in central London with a bit of time to kill.
It’s been a very, very long time since I last felt inspired to post anything here, but after going to see Russell Maliphant and French ballerina Sylvie Guillem performing Maliphant’s PUSH at the London Coliseum on Saturday night, I felt I had to write something.
Now I’ll be honest, I wasn’t sure what I’d make of it; although I’d heard of both dancers (so they must be pretty darn good!), my appreciation of ballet doesn’t really extend far beyond Miss Piggy dancing with Rudolf Nureyev on the Muppet Show, and watching the Royal Ballet’s Tales of Beatrix Potteron the telly at Christmas. My knowledge of contemporary dance is even more non-existent (think “pretending to be a tree at infants school”-level).
So when I took my seat for PUSH, which comprises of three solos and one duet - Solo (Guillem), Shift (Maliphant), Two (Guillem), and Push (Guillem & Maliphant) - I had no idea what to expect.
Solo, performed to the Spanish guitar of Carlos Montoya, is a beautiful contemporary piece, with hints of flamenco and more classical ballet (well, to my uneducated eye at least). Guillem - bathed in wonderful light - is truly incredible; astoundingly flexible, her movements are both graceful and quick. I could certainly see why she’s been described as the greatest ballerina of her generation.
Although a solo piece, Shift sees Maliphant accompanied on stage by his own shadow. Michael Hulls’s incredible lighting really transforms the slow, graceful yoga/tai chi-like movements into something rather special. Narrow beams of light from the front of the stage create six panels on the backdrop, forming large silhouettes of Maliphant. The different angles of the lights mean that at times there are up to four Maliphants on stage, each slightly different in appearance. Moving and thoughtful, not to mention very clever.
Two was my favourite piece of the evening. Guillem is trapped in a box of light, which she begins exploring with her arms and head. Her movements become faster and more intense as Andy Cowton’s score increases in intensity. By the end she’s swirling about furiously, optical illusion making her movements almost strobe-like, her hands and feet taking on the appearance of flames as they break the edges of the box. Utterly, utterly mesmerising.
As the lights came on at the interval, it took me a moment to come back to reality, such was its spellbinding nature. The video below will give you an idea of what I’m trying to describe, but it can’t quite capture the impact of sitting in the dark experiencing it live (as one of the commenters points out, the video’s camera angles aren’t great).
The final piece, Push, is an intimate, sensual duet between Maliphant and Guillem. It begins with Guillem kneeling on Maliphant’s shoulders as he walks on stage, and for much of the 30 minute piece she barely touches the floor, snaking and twisting around his body. Gorgeous stuff, full of balance and counter-balance, strength and grace. Maliphant is clearly a great choreographer, and both he and Guillem are incredible to watch.
In her review in the Telegraph, Sarah Crompton describes PUSH as “dance you want to watch for ever”, and that it “lingers in the mind long after the curtain has fallen.” Very true - I was totally blown away, and left the Coliseum feeling that my eyes (and mind) had been opened to a whole new art form.
This evening of dances choreographed by Russell Maliphant for himself and Sylvie Guillem comes about as close to perfection as dance can.
I may not know much about dance, but I can’t imagine it gets any better than PUSH either.
